New "Background Check" Gun Control Initiative in WA

Micro-Summary:Universal Background Checks, end of private sales, gun registration, unlimited dealer transfer fees, criminalization of exchange of firearms between friends on informal ranges, lengthens waiting period to 10 days, removes CPL exemption from waiting period, eliminates eligibility of holder of "temporary emergency CPL" to purchase or receive a firearm...

            - Lay review, not legal opinion. For legal analysis, talk to an attorney...

Ok, the nimrods from the elitist Seattle anti-gun crowd have, having founded a bright shiny new anti-gun group (Washingtonians for Gun Responsibility) and already managed to raise a million bucks, are setting forth to try and buy a shiny new law by way of a peculiar Washington institution known as a "Initiative to the Legislature."

It seems Washington doesn't have just one way to do an initiative, but instead has two - the "Initiative to the People" (what all of us peons think of when the word "initiative" comes up) and the "Initiative to the Legislature." The second one is far less common and works a bit differently.

With the Initiative to the people you pay your $250, submit your proposal, get a title approved and an initiative number assigned, and then go steaming off to try for enough qualified signatures to get your dream on the ballot. No muss, no fuss.

The Initiative to the Legislature takes a detour. Initiatives to the Legislature , if certified, are submitted to the Legislature at its regular session each January. Once submitted, the Legislature must take one of the following three actions:

• The Legislature can adopt the initiative as proposed, in which case it becomes law without a vote of the people;

• The Legislature can reject or refuse to act on the pro - posed initiative, in which case the initiative must be placed on the ballot at the next state general election; or

• The Legislature can propose a different measure dealing with the same subject, in which case both measures must be placed on the next state General Election ballot.

We face an Initiative to the Legislature. What follows is a lay persons breakdown of what this thing would do if it gets enough signatures (and with Bloomberg messing with his billions at the state level, it seems a fair bet that enough petition gatherers - and thus, likely signatures - can be bought to at least get this thing on the ballot).

Micro-Summary:Universal Background Checks, end of private sales, gun registration, unlimited dealer transfer fees, criminalization of exchange of firearms between friends on informal ranges, lengthens waiting period to 10 days, removes CPL exemption from waiting period, eliminates eligibility of holder of "temporary emergency CPL" to purchase or receive a firearm...
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Longer Summary (yet likely still incomplete)...

1) Requires a background check all sales or transfers, including but not limited to sales and transfers through a licensed dealer, at gun shows, online, and between unlicensed persons outside of specific exemptions.

 2) Requires all sales or transfers of firearms to be processed through an FFL. No limit on fee for such service is created. In person to person transactions, FFL must log firearm in and out as if it were a purchase from a wholesaler and sale to a consumer - creating a transaction  record (registration). 

3) NICS checks for all private sales or transfers, including gifts or loans (however transitory) - i.e., liability is created when handing a gun to a friend at the range for them to try out.

4) Carves out narrow exemptions for:

         a. Transfers to spouses, domestic partners, parents, children, siblings, grandparents, 
             grandchildren, nieces, nephews, first cousins, aunts, and uncles, that is a bona fide gift.

         b. The sale or transfer of an antique firearm;

         c. A temporary transfer of possession of a firearm if such transfer is necessary to prevent  
             imminent death or great bodily harm to the person to whom the firearm is transferred if
            
             (i) The temporary transfer only lasts as long as immediately necessary to prevent such
                  imminent death or great bodily harm; and
            (ii) The person to whom the firearm is transferred is not prohibited from possessing firearms
                   under state or federal law.
      
         d. Law Enforcement
      
         e. Federally Licensed gunsmiths
 
         f.     The temporary transfer of a firearm
                (i) between spouses or domestic partners;
              (ii)  if the temporary transfer occurs, and the firearm is kept at all times, at an established    
                     shooting range authorized by the governing body of the jurisdiction in which such range
                    is located;
             (iii) if the temporary transfer occurs and the transferee’s possession of the firearm is
                    exclusively at a lawful organized competition involving the use of a firearm, or while
                    participating in or practicing for a performance by an organized group that uses firearms
                    as a part of the performance;
             (iv) to a person who is under eighteen years of age for lawful hunting, sporting, or
                    educational purposes while under the direct supervision and control of a responsible
                    adult who is not prohibited from possessing firearms; or
              (v) while hunting if the hunting is legal in all places where the person to whom the firearm is
                    transferred possesses the firearm and the person to whom the firearm is transferred has
                    completed all training and holds all licenses or permits required for such hunting. 
                    Provided that any temporary transfer allowed by this subsection is permitted only if the
                    person to whom the firearm is transferred is not prohibited from possessing firearms    
                    under state or federal law; or
        g.    A person who (i) acquired a firearm other than a pistol by operation of law upon the death
              of the former owner of the firearm or (ii) acquired a pistol by operation of law upon the
              death of the former owner of the pistol within the preceding 60 days. At the end of the
              60-day period, the person must either have lawfully transferred the pistol or must have
              contacted the Department of Licensing to notify the Department that he or she has
              possession of the pistol and intends to retain possession of the pistol, in compliance with all
              federal and state laws.