Measure targets gun sales

OLYMPIA – More than 300 people crowded into a standing-room-only hearing room and spilled into two overflow rooms Thursday, as state lawmakers discussed a Senate bill that would require firearm buyers at gun shows and flea markets to undergo background checks.

The backers of long-shot Senate Bill 5197 say their aim is simple: Close a “loophole” through which felons, juveniles and mentally unstable people can plunk down cash and walk away with a gun.

“There’s not a single law-abiding person out there who will be affected adversely by this legislation,” said Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Medina, the bill’s prime sponsor. A co-sponsor, Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, said that 100,000 to 300,000 guns change hands each year at gun shows nationwide.

The bill would make buying a firearm at a gun show much like buying one at a sporting goods store. For a rifle or shotgun, the person would have to undergo an online background check before the gun is sold. For a pistol, there’s also a five-day waiting period.

“The only ID you need here (at gun shows) is cash,” said Tom. “That isn’t how we want guns sold in Washington state.”

“This is all about crime prevention for me. It’s not about a grudge against guns or gun owners,” said Oregon state Sen. Ginny Burdick, a Portland Democrat who seven years ago spearheaded a ballot measure to require the gun-show checks in Oregon. It passed with 62 percent of the vote.

Gun advocates, including several gun-owning lawmakers, argued Thursday that the bill is a solution in search of a problem. Several cited a U.S. Justice Department study that found less than 1 percent of the guns used in crimes came from a gun show.

Since background check data is sent to the state, National Rifle Association lobbyist Brian Judy said he considers the change a back-door attempt to “abolish privacy” about who owns guns.

“History has shown what follows: It’s firearm confiscation,” he said.

Gun show organizers said it would be impossible to have a five-day pistol waiting period at a two-day gun show. And sportsmen’s groups complained that the restrictions would prevent them from auctioning off weapons to members at fundraising banquets.

“This bill takes away who we are and those things near and dear to our hearts,” protested Sen. Jim Clements, R-Selah, who recounted giving his wife an Ithaca shotgun for Christmas in 1968.

It was a tense 90-minute hearing. Two state troopers scanned the large crowd, as did Senate security staff. Senate workers tried unsuccessfully to herd proponents and opponents into separate overflow hearing rooms, but it was clear from the guffaws and applause that critics of the bill dominated both crowds.

At one point, Sen. Kohl-Welles – the committee chairwoman – glared at a bearded man in the audience who was apparently making mocking faces at lawmakers.

“Would you please refrain from your mannerisms?” Kohl-Welles said.

“No,” he said.

“Then you may leave the hearing room,” she said, fixing him with a long stare. He stayed.

One of the biggest proponents of changing the law is Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, who has been meeting privately with lawmakers for weeks. Eighteen other states have passed laws to close the loophole – and it is a loophole, he said. Forcing all gun-show sellers to do background checks, he said, “will take away an easy avenue” for felons to obtain weapons illegally.

Kohl-Welles said many gun-show sellers – between 50 percent and 75 percent – are licensed gun dealers who do background checks on the spot. The bill, she said, would simply level the playing field. No longer would mom-and-pop dealers have a competitive advantage over dealers who do background checks.

Nonetheless, comments from legislative leaders over the past three days suggest that the bill faces an uphill fight. Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said Thursday the bill will be voted out of committee, but she doesn’t have a sense of how much support it has in the full Senate. And she warned that she’s hesitant to burn up valuable Senate debate hours with such a hot-button issue while other key bills fall through the cracks.

House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, said Tuesday that he supports a House version of the same bill but that many Democratic and Republican lawmakers don’t.

“There’s nowhere near enough votes to pass the bill,” Chopp said. “I’ve seen the vote count. I said ‘Lord!’ I was surprised.”