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Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Last November, Initiative 594 passed with 59.2 percent of the statewide vote. Support for the initiative varied throughout the state, with many areas opposing it. For example, only 42.5 percent of voters supported I-594 in the 39th District. Personally, I voted NO on this initiative. My family and I have enjoyed shooting sports for years, and we have taught all of our children to be responsible, safety-conscious gun enthusiasts.

The initiative went into effect December 4. It requires background checks for all gun sales and transfers. Any time a gun is sold or exchanges hands, with a few exceptions, the parties involved must go to a licensed firearm dealer to have a background check. I-594 also doubles the waiting time on handgun sales from five to 10 days.

As many people predicted, the initiative is presenting a number of serious problems for law-abiding gun owners and businesses in our state. This, despite the fact proponents promised these problems wouldn't happen. For example, I-594's burdensome, time-consuming requirements fundamentally prevent:

  • veterans who have been honorably discharged from the military from using issued firearms with honor guards for funerals or flag ceremonies;
  • active duty military personnel from giving their firearms to family or friends to use while at a private shooting range or to care for their firearms while they are away on training or are deployed for duty; and
  • certain businesses from making safety repairs to firearms or firearm accessories, such as holsters, because it is considered a transfer to receive the firearm they were asked to fix or make accessories for.

These are just a few of the unwarranted difficulties law-abiding citizens have brought to my attention on I-594. If you have a personal story to share please contact me.

Whether it was the intent of the people who wrote the initiative or not, the outcomes have had real consequences for legal gun owners. Meanwhile, criminals will continue to circumvent any gun law they can in order to commit crimes.

As you might expect, there have been bills introduced this year that would repeal I-594, (House Bill 1245), fix small parts of it (House Bill 1533) and even go beyond (House Bill 1747) what the initiative established.

House Bill 2164 is an omnibus, or comprehensive, approach that would fix the problems with I-594 I noted above. It would also: help women protect themselves when they have filed a restraining order, protection order, or no-contact order because they have been threatened; ensure museums can display historic firearms; allow gun owners and firearms safety instructors to share firearms at shooting ranges; and clarify that armed private security guards are allowed to do their jobs.

An important aspect of House Bill 2164 is that it would only apply to persons not otherwise disqualified from possessing a firearm. In other words, it empowers those who have followed the law.

The legislation has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee, where we are still waiting to see if the chair, Rep. Laurie Jinkins, will give it a hearing.

Below are other gun-related bills that have been introduced, including the prime sponsors:

I-594 related bills:

Other gun-related bills:

By clicking on these hyperlinks, you can follow the status of bills and share your views on them by clicking on the “Comment on this bill” icon. This will allow you to say if you support, oppose or are neutral on the legislation, and provide you the opportunity to share your comments. This information will be shared with your state lawmakers.

As you know, I am a 2nd Amendment supporter and will continue to work toward protecting the rights of lawful gun owners.

In your service,

Dan Kristiansen

State Representative Dan Kristiansen, 39th Legislative District
RepresentativeDanKristiansen.com
426A Legislative Building | P.O. Box 40600 | Olympia, WA 98504-0600
dan.kristiansen@leg.wa.gov
(360) 786-7967 | Toll-free: (800) 562-6000