A tentative agreement on national legislation to respond to mass gun violence, announced Sunday by a bipartisan group of senators, could provide the state of Washington with money for mental health clinics and school security, although its modest gun restrictions would have little effect.
Many of those efforts already have been enacted in Washington over the years, resulting in the state ranking 10th in the country for gun safety, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
Washington Sen. Patty Murray said she's looking forward to working to getting the deal passed, despite its modest aims.
"This framework represents progress — and contains real measures that can help save lives," said Murray in a statement. "It's not everything we need to end gun violence, so I will continue to fight and press for commonsense gun safety reforms like universal background checks and an assault weapons ban."
Residents of Washington state joined thousands across the country during Saturday's national March for Our Lives rallies. Educators and supporters of new restrictions marched at the state Capitol in Olympia and at a smaller rallies across the region and the state urging lawmakers to enact tougher gun regulations.
Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, laid out some additional specifics of the new national response on Twitter on Sunday. The legislation includes funding to pass and implement red flag laws, or crisis intervention orders, allowing law enforcement to temporarily remove dangerous weapons from those who pose a danger to themselves or others. Additionally, the new federal framework would work to ensure no spouse or "serious dating partner" can buy a gun if they have been convicted of abuse against their partner. The new agreement would also enhance background checks for gun buyers under 21.
The new deal also seeks to clarify the laws regarding who needs to register as a licensed gun dealer to ensure all commercial sellers are conducting background checks.
In 2016, Washington became the fourth state to enact a red flag law that allows law enforcement officers and family or household members to petition a superior court judge for an extreme risk protection order. ERPOs, as they're also known, require the surrender of concealed pistol licenses and give police the authority to secure someone's guns. The respondents' names are also added to the national no-sell list, which ensures they won't pass a background check to purchase a firearm for the same one-year period.
Washington's background check laws are tougher still after the approval of Initiative 594 in 2014, which extends background checks in the state to private sales and transfers.
The new national agreement takes aim at the "boyfriend loophole," with the idea of expanding restrictions to a "serious dating partner" in addition to restricting a spouse from buying guns if they are convicted domestic abusers who are or were married to, living with, have a child with or are a parent or guardian of their victims.
In Washington, a measure from 2019 requires police officers responding to domestic violence incidents to seize firearms and ammunition used or threatened to be used in the offense. They also must ask to remove firearms to which an abuser has access until a court hearing is held. A second measure from that year allows judges to require the surrender of firearms as part of protection orders surrounding domestic violence, sexual assault, extreme risk, anti-harassment or stalking.
Though Washington doesn't have a "boyfriend loophole," King County Senior Deputy Prosecutor David Martin, who leads the prosecutor's domestic violence unit said Sunday that having federal support to close it in other states would benefit everyone by providing consistent protections for victims of domestic violence.
"We're all connected — people go from one state to another all the time," including fleeing abusive partners, Martin said. "In the end, laws don't implement themselves, so having federal support is important."
As the new federal agreement looks to enhance background checks on buyers under 21, current Washington laws bar those younger than 21 from buying semi-automatic rifles, one of only six states to do so.
Additional recent developments in the state's gun laws include new regulations set to go into effect next month. In late March, Gov. Jay Inslee signed Senate Bill 5078, which puts limits on the sale, importation, distribution and manufacture of firearm magazines for semi-automatic rifles and many pistols that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. The legislation, which does not prohibit the possession of such magazines, is set to go into effect on July 1.
Also set to go into effect on July 1 are new restrictions on untraceable and unregulated firearms, or ghost guns, and new restrictions prohibiting the open carry of firearms and other weapons in local and regional government buildings in connection with local government meetings.
On Friday, local lawmakers, gun safety advocates, students and educators urged adoption of stricter gun laws as the state explored the possibility of banning assault weapons and requiring gun owners to receive training and license and register their firearms. At the time Murray said a patchwork of state laws "is not going to cut it."
In addition to the Senate group's proposed gun measures, Murphy said "billions" in new funding would be provided for mental health and school safety, including the building out of community mental health clinics across the nation. Details were sparse, and at this time, it is not clear how much of that money would come to Washington.
"Will this bill do everything we need to end our nation's gun violence epidemic? No," said Murphy in a tweet. "But it's real, meaningful progress."
