3.3.17
Suggested lead:
Legislators have OK’d a get-tougher policy for would-be gun buyers who flunk
their background investigation. Dan
Frizzell has that story.
HANSEN: "It is a crime to attempt to
purchase a firearm unlawfully, when you know that you’re prohibited. All we’re
trying to do is enforce that current law, really put some teeth into it. " [:10]
That’s Representative Drew Hansen.
The Bainbridge Island Democrat put together a bipartisan team last year to look
into something he’d discovered: If you’re on the no-gun list and you try your
luck anyway, there are no red flags, no alerts to let anyone know that someone
who shouldn’t have a firearm is trying to obtain one anyway. He wrote a bill to
change that, and Friday afternoon it received an 84-to-13 boost on its way to
the Senate.
HANSEN: "If you walk into a firearm store
even though you are prohibited from possessing a firearm, there’s basically no
follow-up right now. Law
enforcement doesn’t know about it, there’s no investigation or referral for
prosecution. If you’re ineligible
because of a domestic violence crime, your survivor doesn’t know about it and
that’s a real problem. " [:22]
Lawmakers from both sides of the party aisle spoke in praise of the policy
during floor debate. That’s a good
sign in Washington’s divided Legislature, and bodes well for Hansen’s bill to
make it to the governor’s desk before a scheduled April 23rd
adjournment. In Olympia, I'm Dan Frizzell.