FCWPP urges Yes for I-594, No for I-591firearms related initiatives

Dear Friends, It’s just two weeks until your ballot will be mailed to your home. FCWPP supports a “Yes” vote on Initiative 594, which would require criminal and public safety background checks on all firearms sales and transfers including gun shows, online sales, and private sales with certain exceptions. These background checks would be the same as are currently required for sales from licensed gun dealers and are intended to keep guns out of the hands of felons, persons convicted of domestic violence crimes, and persons dangerously mentally ill as determined by a court. FCWPP supports a “No” vote on Initiative 591, which, among other things, would prohibit Washington state from having background checks on firearms that are more stringent than those of the federal government. In particular, given current federal law, approval of this Initiative would prevent Washington state from universal background checks, the very thing I-594 would do. For more information, see the website of the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility: http://wagunresponsibility.org, an organization that FCWPP has endorsed, and the guest editorial in the Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2024694167_billhansonmarkericksopedproi594xxxml.html. Current laws make guns available without background checks. The I-594 campaign reported it learned a convicted felon was selling and buying guns via Facebook to get around our background check laws, and THEN learned that this is shockingly common. Approximately 4,400 such sales to people legally not allowed to buy guns occur in Washington every year. The campaign also recently reported on John Christian Parks’ sentencing earlier this year. He’s the white supremacist and convicted felon who’d been amassing an arsenal of guns by shopping online, and was arrested out on the Peninsula. Campaign truth checks Q13 Fox TV reported last week that a TV ad from the pro I-594 campaign was “mostly true,” but that the gun lobby’s latest TV ad was “mostly false.” See http://q13fox.com/2014/10/02/tracking-the-truth-of-the-gun-initiative-tv-ads/ for details. What have you heard? WA Alliance for Gun Responsibility provides opportunities for involvement with the campaign to support I-594. In particular, the I-594 campaign wants to know what you’ve heard from people who oppose the initiative so they can respond appropriately. Click here to tell the campaign what you’ve seen, or heard about 594 — and help them counter the misinformation the opposition is spreading! Thank you for all your support of our witness to Friends’ testimonies. The FCWPP Legislative Committee