Fatal Eastern Washington pellet gun shooting highlights gap in how state law treats BB guns v. firearms

A deadly shooting in Eastern Washington last week, in which a man died after being hit in the neck by a pellet fired from a BB gun, is renewing questions about how Washington law treats non-powder firearms — especially when kids bring them to school.

Casey McNerthney, the communications director for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, told “Seattle’s Morning News” the legal distinction between a BB or pellet gun and a traditional firearm can be jarring for parents, even though it shapes nearly every charging decision prosecutors make in these cases.

“If you use the gun, like in this case, that can be a manslaughter or a murder case,” McNerthney said, referring to the Eastern Washington death. “I would presume that would be referred to prosecutors as a manslaughter case.”

The frustration, he said, builds in a very different scenario — when a child is caught with a pellet gun at school, but never threatens anyone with it.

“What parents hear is ‘gun in school,’ and any parent is going to say, ‘Oh my god,’ and be really concerned, and think of Columbine or the worst-case scenario,” McNerthney said. “The law doesn’t treat it that way.”

Under Washington law, a BB gun or pellet gun is not classified as a firearm. McNerthney said the statutes were written in an era when lawmakers pictured a very different kind of weapon.

“The law was written when people thought of BB guns like what you see in ‘A Christmas Story,'” he said.

That means when a student is found with a pellet gun in a backpack, with no threat made and no one targeted, prosecutors statewide are required to handle it as a mandatory diversion misdemeanor on the first offense.

Even repeat cases can come in as misdemeanors

“When you have a firearm, the law treats it that way. If you have a threat with any type of gun, the law treats it that way,” McNerthney said. “A BB gun or a pellet gun, it’s not the same as a firearm as defined by the law.”

The disconnect has grown sharper as modern pellet guns have evolved. Many are nearly indistinguishable from real handguns until someone gets close enough to inspect them — a distance most people are not eager to close.

McNerthney said his office hears from frustrated parents on a near-yearly basis after a school incident.

“Parents, like clockwork — understandably, because they’re good parents — say, ‘What the hell are you doing? You still soft on crime?’ Like, a mandatory diversion misdemeanor,” he said. “They’re so frustrated with prosecutors that they don’t realize prosecutors have no other option.”

He said even a second offense being charged as a misdemeanor strikes many parents as inadequate.

“That’s the right approach as a parent, because you want your kids to be safe and other kids to be safe,” McNerthney said.

But changing how the law treats pellet and BB guns is not something prosecutors can do on their own, he said. Families who want a tougher response should take it up with the legislature.

“Those are the ones who can change the law,” McNerthney said.

Manda Factor is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. Follow Manda on X and email her here. 

Follow @MandaFactor