Democrats in the Washington State House on Saturday approved an overhaul of the state’s system for buying guns.
House Bill 1163 would require a state permit to purchase firearms. Majority Democrats pushed the bill through without any Republican votes. It’s a big step forward for the idea, which didn’t advance out of committee last year. The bill has attracted stiff opposition from gun owners and others who argue their constitutional right shouldn’t require a permit.
But supporters say that the permit system — which about a dozen other states have on the books — would make Washington safer.
“We know that this policy works,” Rep. Liz Berry, D-Seattle, the bill’s sponsor, said on the House floor ahead of the 58-38 vote. It will make sure guns don’t get into the wrong hands and diverted into the black market where they could be used in crimes, she said.
Rep. Darya Farivar, D-Seattle, said the new requirements will bring a greater sense of safety to neighborhoods like hers, Lake City, where gunshots can be heard nightly.
“They keep us up. They confine us to our homes as an unofficial curfew,” she said. “This legislation will lift that unofficial curfew and let us sleep.”
This policy, she said, “will ensure that everyone who decides to purchase a firearm understands the capabilities of the machinery. It will ensure people understand that this machinery can rob people of their safety, their freedom and their lives.”
In a roughly four-hour debate that ran into the overnight hours Friday and resumed midday Saturday, Republican lawmakers proposed 27 amendments, all but one of which were rejected. Among those defeated by Democrats was a proposed exemption for veterans who received an honorable discharge from any branch of the U.S. armed forces.
Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, said the bill violates provisions of the state constitution that protect a person’s right to due process, privacy and ability to defend themself with a firearm.
“This may be the worst bad bill we’ve seen so far this session,” said Walsh, who is also chair of the state Republican Party.
The legislation goes beyond the 10-day waiting period and background checks already enshrined in state law.
Under the legislation, prospective gun buyers would need to first apply for a five-year permit from the Washington State Patrol. To get the permit, applicants must have completed a certified firearms safety training program within the past five years, with exceptions for police officers and active military servicemembers.
The state patrol’s Firearms Background Check Program would issue the permit within 30 days, or 60 days if the applicant doesn’t have a state ID.
If the applicant has completed the safety course, the state would have to issue the permit unless the person is barred from having guns, out of custody on bond awaiting trial or sentencing on felony charges, or the subject of an arrest warrant.
The bill also requires those seeking a concealed pistol license to similarly take firearms safety training.
Prospective buyers can challenge denied applications in court. And the state can revoke a permit if the person no longer meets the conditions. The state patrol would recheck eligibility for existing permit holders each year.
The agency estimates it would receive about 100,000 permit applications annually. Previously, the agency had projected double that.
In 2024, the state patrol got about 250,000 requests for firearm background checks. Of those, troopers denied about 3,400. Approximately half were appealed. Two-thirds of those appeals were successful.
The state patrol says it will cost $13.7 million in the next state budget to handle the new program. The amount rises to nearly $20 million in the 2027-29 budget. Fees collected for fingerprinting and background checks would offset the cost of the new permit-to-purchase program, according to a fiscal analysis.
Rep. Cyndy Jacobsen, R-Puyallup, offered an amendment Friday night to delay the permit system until the state patrol has implemented a program to certify firearm safety courses.
Washington’s bill now heads to the state Senate.
The legislation is the centerpiece in a suite of bills this year aimed at curbing gun violence. On Wednesday, lawmakers in the Senate moved to expand the list of places where Washingtonians can’t carry guns.
Under that bill, which the House will now take up, it would be illegal to carry a gun or other weapon in parks “where children are likely to be present,” state or local public buildings and county fairgrounds. The measure also got no Republican votes.
Other proposals include limiting bulk purchases of firearms and ammunition, requiring gun owners to lock up their weapons in their cars and homes and adding new requirements for gun dealers.
A proposed excise tax on the sale of guns and ammo has stalled.
On a bipartisan note, senators unanimously voted this week to require a year of community custody, a status similar to probation or parole, for unlawful firearm possession convictions.
Reporter Jerry Cornfield contributed to this report.
Washington State Standard is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Washington State Standard maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Bill Lucia for questions: info@washingtonstatestandard.com.
Why is this controversial? If you want to drive, fish, hunt, build, access a state park, or even salvage a deer carcass, you need a permit or license. Yet in our state, where on average someone is killed by a gun roughly every 12 hours, and where the top cause of death in young people is gun violence, we shouldn’t ask a person to obtain a permit to purchase a gun? Gun proponents often cite their “constitutional rights,” and “self-defense” as reasons to remove any restrictions on gun ownership. In doing so, they ignore, or are ignorant of, two facts: 1) the 2nd amendment still includes the phrase “… as part of a well-regulated militia” and 2) research shows that gun ownership does not make a person safer (https://www.americanprogress.org/article/debunking-the-guns-make-us-safer-myth/).
If the Dems can convince me that their proposal “… will make sure guns don’t get into the wrong hands …” I might consider it worthwhile. In the meantime, I’m convinced that my personal safety is my responsibility alone and the politicians and bureaucrats in Olympia can only make that more difficult and dangerous.
Why do Dems always go soft on crime and target legal gun owners? Ridiculous.
Well said, Larry. Thank you for giving us the facts and being the voice of reason on this topic. I hope the readers look up your informational links. We will all be safer if we license the right to own guns.
Mr. Wechsler ignores the Washington State Constituioal right to bear arms Washington Constitution
Article 1; Section 24
The Right to Bear Arms:
“The right of the individual citizen to bear
arms in defense of himself, or the state,
shall not be impaired”
Would you like to have a state law requiring you to have a permit before excercising your
constitutional right of free speech? What is unclear about “shall not be impaired?
The proper interpretation of the state’s constitution with respect to gun laws is a bit more nuanced than perhaps you realize. The Supreme Court of Washington has held that “article I, § 24 is not absolute and is subject to reasonable regulation by the state under its police power.”
See: https://giffords.org/lawcenter/state-laws/state-right-to-bear-arms-in-washington/ .
I certainly would not like to be required to have a permit to speak freely; then again, my speech has never resulted in the injury, or death, of a person, to my knowledge. Conversely, given that guns kill somewhere around 1.000 people in our state every year, requiring a permit to purchase is a “reasonable regulation.”
Any other constitutional right you need to pay the government to exercise? How about a permit to vote? A permit to pimp, a permit to sell drugs, a permit to street race, and a permit to steal mail. Think of all the money the state could make from socially conscious criminals. Recall Marko Illias
We must reject the idea that every time a law is broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his/her actions.
Most of the gun deaths in Washington are suicides. How will a permit requirement stop suicides? Very few deaths from legal gun owners and most of those are self defense. Gun permit purchase requirements have been overturned in most cases as an infringement on Constitutional rights. I suspect the same result if this bill is passed and signed by the Democrats who swear to uphold the Constitution. They should not pick and choose which Constitutional rights they will follow. No permit is required to by a car and yet over 35,000 thousand deaths a year from car accidents. Yes you are suppose to have a license to drive but this up is routinely ignored by criminals. Same with gun laws. It will not stop criminals. Long mandatory jail sentences for gun crimes might help. Are Democrats pushing that idea? No. They want to reduce such sentences.
Suicide permit, obviously. It is also a good point that sentencing is selectively applied. If you’re caught with pounds of fentanyl, thousands in cash, in a stolen car, with guns… 10 months house arrest. That’s not true, but it feels true.
And another court finds permit to purchase is a reasonable requirement, agreeing with public sentiment:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/oregon-appeals-court-says-voter-184100179.html