Initiative Would Require Licensing Of Handgun Owners Group Begins Gathering Signatures To Put Issue On November Ballot

Declaring pistols and revolvers “at least as dangerous as automobiles,” a group began campaigning Monday for a law that would require all Washington handgun owners to be licensed.

Washington Citizens for Handgun Safety launched its statewide petition drive for Initiative 676 with a half-hour press conference at Spokane’s West Central Community Center.

The group must gather 179,000 signatures by July 3 to get the measure on the November ballot.

The proposed law has two main provisions.

First, it mandates that all citizens complete an eight-hour firearm safety course or pass an equivalent exam sanctioned by the state Department of Licensing before they can purchase a handgun.

Second, it requires all handguns sold, traded or given away to have a trigger lock. The locks prevent triggers from being accidentally pulled.

Initiative proponent and federal prosecutor Tom Wales said the law would help prevent accidental shootings, especially among children. Wales said 15 American children are killed each day by guns.

Initiative proponent Jean Gardner pointed to the recent death of a 14-year-old Washington boy accidentally shot by his brother while the two were playing with a handgun.

Gardner said the purpose of the measure isn’t to restrict the ownership of handguns. It’s about safety, she said.

“The NRA is always saying, ‘Guns don’t kill people. People kill people,”’ said Gardner, wife of former Washington Gov. Booth Gardner. “We’re taking that slogan and putting it to use by training people.”

Gayle Cook, a life member of the National Rifle Association and an avid hunter, called the law frivolous.

Cook, who lives in Chattaroy, said the NRA and other gun advocacy groups support voluntary firearm education classes and would like to see gun safety taught in schools.

I-676 would be too expensive to implement and nearly impossible to enforce, she said. It would punish responsible handgun owners while doing nothing to stop irresponsible ones, Cook said.

“It’s not going to do anything except create more unnecessary bureaucracy,” she said. “You know whose going to pay for this new bill? You and me.”

Tom Higgins, a Spokane resident who teaches hunter education courses, said the proposed law is too restrictive.

“It outright prevents people from buying their firearms before first completing this course,” Higgins said.

Wales and Gardner admitted there are holes in their proposal. “There is no perfect system,” Wales said.

But the initiative is a step toward a safer Washington, they said.

Alice Stolz, president of the Washington League of Women Voters, said her organization is backing the initiative.

“Sure, it’s a little bother,” she said. “But it’s not as much bother as the funeral of a child.”

, DataTimes