Voters approve expanded gun background checks in Washington state

Voters have passed a measure to expand background checks on gun sales and transfers in Washington state.

I-594 passed with nearly 60 percent voting in favor, 40 percent opposed, with just over 870,000 votes tallied.

I-594 brought in more than $10 million, including donations from prominent figures like Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg. It seeks to expand the state’s current background check laws to require checks on private transactions, including private sales at gun shows.

With just over one million votes counted, I-591 was trailing 45-55 percent.

I-591 would prevent any such expansion from occurring, prohibiting government agencies from conducting any checks beyond the national standard, which requires the checks for sales or transfers by licensed dealers but not for purchases from private sellers. It also would prohibit the confiscation of weapons without due process.

Like federal law, Washington law currently requires checks for sales or transfers by licensed dealers but not for purchases from private sellers, like those who sell at gun shows or to friends.

While recent polling showed a significant advantage for I-594 — which had a huge lead in fundraising — if both managed to pass, officials have said the courts or the Legislature would likely have to sort it out.

No other state has a gun-related measure on the ballot this year, and millions of dollars have been pouring into the state, mostly in support of expanding background checks.

The National Rifle Association raised nearly half a million dollars to fight the expansion measure, but did not endorse I-591, which spent just over a million dollars on its campaign. The anti-expansion measure also seeks to prohibit confiscation of firearms without due process.

Six states — California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Rhode Island — plus Washington, D.C., require universal background checks for all sales and transfers of firearms, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Other states have varying laws on expansion beyond what federal law requires, including Oregon, which requires a background check for purchases at gun shows.

Opponents of universal background checks take the most issue with language that would require checks for many gifts and loans. The measure has exceptions for emergency gun transfers concerning personal safety, gifts between family members, antiques and loans for hunting.

Both measures started out as initiatives to the Legislature. Lawmakers didn’t take action, but under state law, the measures were guaranteed a place on the statewide ballot.

The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System processed more than 560,000 firearm background checks in Washington state last year, and has processed more than 346,000 between January and the end of September of this year, according the system’s online report.

Supporters of expansion have said that the increase in the number of background checks if the measure passes is hard to predict, since the size of the private market in the state is unknown. However, state officials have estimated that checks for private sales and transfers would increase by 13,440 through July of next year. That estimate grows to 35,481 new checks for the 2015-17 biennium, and to 51,093 for the 2017-19 biennium.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.