It won’t deter criminals, crime

Will I-594 prevent people prohibited from possessing guns from obtaining guns to commit crimes? Washington crime statistics should support the I-594 assertion that people who failed a background check committed violent crimes with guns purchased at gun shows or other legal private sales. If there are data supporting this claim, the initiative’s proponents have not offered them. They should demonstrate how I-594 will prevent people who would fail a background check from otherwise getting guns: theft and loans that can’t be prevented. The loan restrictions defined in I-594 only impose burdens on people highly unlikely to commit crimes with borrowed guns and will not deter potential criminal behavior.

The absent data indicate that the proposed law will be ineffective. Very few guns used in crimes are purchased at gun shows or through private legal sales. The initiative explicitly restricts benign activity like gun loans between friends, engendering cynicism as people evade this unenforceable element of the law. For example, if I borrow a shotgun for trap shooting while my gun is “in the shop,” I will be violating the new law unless the loan occurs at the trap range. No one will supervise the transfer or use of a borrowed gun: people will ignore this element of the law. How is that effective policy?

Bruce Mamont

Mukilteo