Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer and Lewis County Sheriff-elect Rob Snaza on Monday put out a joint letter defining their enforcement strategy and an explanation of the main points to the state’s controversial new gun law Initiative 594.
The four-page letter said the law’s broad language and vague definitions “have given rise to many questions and concerns.”
Snaza wrote the new law “has had a significant impact on firearms transfers among law abiding citizens.” In the letter he said the sheriff’s department will “thoroughly investigate those cases reported to us and file them with the prosecutor when appropriate.”
“Where I-594 attempts to criminalize every-day activities, I, in the exercise of my prosecutorial discretion, will not charge individuals with these types of violations,” Meyer wrote in his section of the letter. However, he will hold accountable those who “knowingly put guns in the hands of criminals.”
The part of the law defines a "firearm" as a weapon or device from which a projectile or projectiles may be fired by an explosive such as gunpowder.
Meyer and Snaza’s summary include “tools such as a concrete nailer that is gas or powder-actuated.”
It notes that I-594 didn’t change the legal definition of firearm.
The summary explains that all firearm purchases or transfers require a background check through a licensed dealer, unless specifically exempt.
The transfer or sale can’t happen until either the background check is cleared or if enough time has passed since the requested background check if one of the buyers or sellers doesn't have a valid Washington identification or hasn’t been a resident for more than 90 days.
It explains that immediate family members, antique guns, law enforcement and corrections agencies, and licensed gunsmiths making repairs are exempt from background check requirements.
Also exempt are temporary transfers to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm for as long as needed, at established shooting ranges, organized firearm competitions and performances, hunting or training between people under 18 and adults, and permit-holding hunters.
Inherited firearms, including pistols, are exempt. Pistols are exempt for 60 days after inheritance, but after that the recipient must notify the Washington Department of Licensing of their possession.
The summary includes the penalties for violating background check requirements as a gross misdemeanor for a first offense and a class C felony for each subsequent offense.
Sales tax doesn’t apply to the sale or transfer of a firearm between two unlicensed persons if they have complied with all required background checks, the summary says.
It also says that the law “keeps the requirement for firearms dealers to collect sales or use tax from the transferee on interstate firearms transfers by a licensed dealer.”
I-594 was created to expand background checks to include sales between private individuals to better keep guns out of the hands of felons, domestic abusers and the mentally ill. It was voter-approved this November by a 20-percentage point margin.
“I don’t intend on prosecuting those kind of violations, I’m not going to turn an average citizen into a criminal because someone decided to vote in a horribly drafted law,” Meyer said.
Geoff Potter, communications director for the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility, the group behind the bill, said “there is no merit to the notion” that I-594 requires background checks on nail guns.
“I-594 is about getting guns out of the hands of dangerous people. This issue doesn’t have anything to do with power tools.” he said. “I’m glad he plans not to prosecute.”
“(That argument) comes out of this sort of ‘throw everything at the wall’ strategy,” he said. “The atmosphere created by (the people that oppose us) is an obvious misinterpretation of the law.”
