Initiative 1639, Washington’s package of tighter gun laws, scored a resounding victory in last week’s midterm election both statewide and in purple Clark County.
Voters statewide passed I-1639 by 19 points, 59.5 percent to 40.5 percent. Locally, voters passed the initiative 54 percent to 46 percent.
It’s too early to say how enforcing the laws in I-1639 might affect day-to-day gun purchasing, ownership and use, said Sgt. Brent Waddell of the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
“We’re waiting for the courts to sort things out and see exactly where this is going to land,” Waddell said. “Like any of the new laws that pass, there’s a lot of unknowns.”
Among the community, the reaction was mixed.
Some consider the package of laws to be modest, common-sense reform that will cut through partisan bickering and curb gun violence at its source.
Others are calling it an unconstitutional overreach into their Second Amendment rights and are gearing up for a challenge in the court system.
On Thursday afternoon, the National Rifle Association filed a lawsuit against the state in federal court.
What does I-1639 actually do?
I-1639 has two major provisions:
• It tightens restrictions on who can buy semi-automatic rifles.
• It tightens storage laws by creating a class of crime called “community endangerment” for gun owners who allow their weapon to fall into the hands of someone who shouldn’t have it, such as a felon or child.
The first part of the new law kicks in Jan. 1. On that day, the legal age to purchase a semi-automatic rifle raises from 18 to 21.
By July 1, buyers also must pass an enhanced background check, show proof of completing a firearms-training class and wait 10 business days after the purchase before taking the weapon home. The initiative directs the state to develop a process to check up on handgun and semi-automatic weapon owners once a year to ensure they’re still legally eligible owners.
The initiative defines a “semi-automatic rifle” as “any rifle which utilizes a portion of the energy of a firing cartridge to extract the fired cartridge case and chamber the next round, and which requires a separate pull of the trigger to fire each cartridge.” Antiques or inoperable firearms are exempt, as are any gun that is “manually operated by bolt, pump, lever, or slide action.”
To cover the cost of complying with the new regulations, gun vendors can charge customers a processing fee of up to $25.
The second portion of the law, the safe storage provision, states that any gun owner who creates a situation in which a “prohibited person may gain access to the firearm” is guilty of felony first-degree community endangerment if the prohibited person causes injury or death with the weapon.
If the “prohibited person” fires or publicly displays the weapon, the gun owner may be charged with second-degree community endangerment, a misdemeanor.
To qualify as community engagement, a situation needs to meet specific criteria.
I-1639 dictates that a gun owner cannot be charged with community endangerment if the firearm was in secure storage when it was taken, if the gun was stolen in a burglary and reported within five days, if the “prohibited person” used the weapon in self-defense or if a child used the gun with the permission of a guardian.
Targeting mass shootings
I-1639 was specifically designed to curb mass shootings by focusing on semi-automatic rifles and unguarded household weapons.
Crafted by the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, supporters of the initiative point to startling statistics: Five of the last six school shooters used an assault weapon. Four out of five school shooters obtained the weapons from their own home or that of a relative or friend. More than 187,000 students have experienced school gun violence since 1999.
Heather Freitag is the lead for the local chapter of Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America, a national effort formed to advocate for stricter gun laws after the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.
She said she’s heartened to see that the initiative passed so decisively.
“I think that the grassroots message is transformative because it’s nonpartisan, and it really speaks to the reality that bullets don’t discriminate,” Freitag said. “If you think of it in a purple county passing the way it did, I think the message, again, that this is a nonpartisan issue and people should care about this.”
Statewide, support for I-1639 fell along predictable geographic lines, with counties around the Puget Sound voting strongly in favor while counties to the south and east struck it down.
But there were a few defectors. Clark, Spokane and Whitman counties, all right-leaning areas with a concentrated population center, voted in favor of stronger gun control.
The provisions in I-1639 are incremental and evidence-based, Freitag said. She sees its passage as a sign that the populace is more willing to engage in solutions to the gun-violence epidemic.
“When you use common-sense reform messages to reach across the aisle and advocate for gun safety — not gun confiscation. … I think we find grassroots work does work. You’re just a regular citizen concerned about a public health issue,” she said.
How might this play out in Clark County?
With the passage of the initiative, Washington adopts some of the toughest gun laws in the country. What that means depends on whom you ask.
The safe storage provision has unsurprisingly drawn condemnation from the NRA, which claims it will “criminalize self-defense.”
It is, however, a great time to be a gun safe retailer in the state.
Luke Boyer, a co-owner of Tracker Safe in Vancouver, said there’s been some buzz among customers since I-1639 made it onto the ballot. For the business, that’s come along with an “ever-so-slight increase in traffic, so far.”
The people stopping by the store have tended to be casual owners of one or two firearms who want to make sure they stay within the boundaries laid out by the changing law, Boyer said Tuesday.
“Anything we sell here easily meets the requirements,” said Boyer, who’s owned and operated Tracker Safe with his brother since 2008.
The expanded background checks will also require more coordination between gun retailers and law enforcement.
“There will be quite a few changes, as far as how much paperwork is done, when we sell a firearm,” Danna Baxter, owner of SafeFire Indoor Shooting Range and Retail in Camas, said in an email.
“Even with a concealed carry permit, customers will still be required to go through a 10-day waiting period for pistols and modern sporting rifles. This means that the local law enforcement agencies will be running the background checks that we would normally run through the NICS system in the store,” she continued, referring to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
“This and the $25/transaction potential fees may discourage firearms owners/purchasers from purchasing as much as they normally do,” she said. “Some don’t want to deal with the extra costs and time. This could cost our retail shop business.”
Though it’s unclear what those background checks might entail, Waddell said there is already concern among local law enforcement agencies about the time and resources involved in screening gun buyers.
“Every government agency has a right to be fiscally responsible and that is definitely a concern not only from the sheriff’s office but all parties involved, including the citizens,” Waddell said. “The powers that be — the sheriff, undersheriff and (police) chief — had a discussion and are trying to formulate a plan.”
One point of frequent criticism from I-1639’s opposition involves “a waiver of confidentiality” that would allow law enforcement conducting a background check to access relevant mental health information.
Baxter said that the mental health provision is the most common anxiety she hears from SafeFire patrons.
“There is quite a bit of negative feedback coming from our customers. Most of the concern is coming from the fact that the initiative states once they sign their ‘background check application’ that goes to local law enforcement, that they are waiving their right to medical privacy,” Baxter said.
