The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Dear Editor,

As a local gunsmith and federally licensed firearms dealer, I have some knowledge of the procedures involved in transferring firearms, and I urge you to vote no on Initiative 594. The advertisements in favor of the initiative disingenuously state that there are no background checks on sales or transfers of firearms related to gun shows or internet purchases. This is absolutely false. Every gun bought over the internet will first go to a dealer like me, who then runs a background check before the firearm is transferred to the buyer. Every gun that is bought from a booth at a gun show also will have a background check performed on them. The proponents of this proposal are counting on the fact that most people do not buy guns on the internet or at gun shows. There are already federal laws in place that require background checks on every new firearm purchased. There is no "gun show and internet loophole."

The regulation of transfer of firearms as written in 594 would criminalize recreational shooting, gun safety courses, and many normal and safe gun practices.

If you wanted to teach someone to shoot at your farm, and you hand your firearm to your friend without coming to someone like me to run a state background check, you would be conducting an illegal transfer. I-594 would also expand a state registry of firearms, since state level transfer applications record the transferee's address and the firearm's serial number, which is held by the state. This means that if your rifle is deemed too scary-looking, you can be contacted directly to hand it in.

In short, Initiative 594 is a dishonest way of removing your rights. Framed in language that seems like common sense, it was commissioned by anti-gun groups to sound good even to gun owners. In reality, state and federal laws are already in place to run checks on honest people who buy guns - whether from a store, a small dealer like me, at a gun show, or from the internet. Most gun owners are responsible, law-abiding men and women. Initiative 594 and laws like it just make it harder for regular people to abide by the law. It is bad for freedom, and bad for Washington. Please vote no.

Ryan Rundell

Dayton