According to the National Rifle Association (NRA), Ballot Initiative 594 could make the act of simply lending one’s gun to another person without a background check by a licensed dealer, at a firing range, for example, illegal.
The NRA contends that I-594, if passed, would make it that essentially each time a firearm changes hands, the transfer would have to be processed through a licensed dealer. As a result of the paperwork of almost every temporary transfer, the dealer to dealer must complete the Pistol Transfer Application. A copy of the application “which RCW 9.41.110(9) requires be sent to the Department of Licensing for inclusion in the state database of law-abiding handgun owners,” the NRA says.
Additionally, the NRA says that there are virtually no exceptions in I-594. For example, a loan exemption is not made for family members or friends, even if the gun owner is present during the time the firearm is used by the friend of family member.
Loaning one’s firearm to an adult family member for self-defense would be considered illegal, as well as loaning a shotgun to an adult friend to go hunting one day. Although an individual can “gift” a firearm to a family member, lending or selling the gun to that same family member is outlawed under I-594. Concealed Pistol License holders, who must be finger-printed for their licenses, are also not exempt.
“This (ballot measure) is being marketed by the Bloomberg gun control machine as a means of reducing gun violence in the state of Washington. In reality, it won’t. Don’t take our word for it. Take the words of the men and women in law enforcement [in Washington state],” NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanadam told Breitbart News.
The Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs (WACOPS) came out against I-594 in a statement over the summer, saying their membership opposed the 18-page initiative. WACOPS says I-594, although marketed as a public safety measure, “will not keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally. They will continue to ignore the law and engage in black market transactions.”
WACOPS also points to the deluge of background checks, investigations, and arrests law enforcement would have to engage in.
via Washington Gun Control Ballot Measure Would Criminalize Common Firing Range Occurrence.