(The Center Square) – A 2017 law passed by the Washington Legislature aimed to further prevent individuals ineligible from owning a firearm from purchasing one or attempting to do so. However, since the law passed, there’s been a conviction rate of less than 1% for all investigations conducted through a state grant program.
Under HB 1501, the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs is notified every time there is a denied gun sale or transfer through a licensed gun dealer. Along with compiling annual reports, they directly refer certain instances to local law enforcement for investigations.
Under the 2017 law, WASPC runs a grant program that funds local law enforcement investigations of these denied gun sales or transfers. Since 2017, the association has awarded a total of $662,241 to local police to conduct 1,647 investigations.
According to a staff summary of public comment in favor of HB 1501, proponents argued that “criminals who knowingly violate the law by illegally trying to purchase a firearm should be arrested, prosecuted, and, if appropriate, spend time in prison.”
Only 441 cases, or 27% of those investigations funded by the grant program, have resulted in a referral to the local prosecutor. Of those, the prosecutors declined to take 40% or 174 cases. Of the 172 charges filed by the prosecutor, 42 were deferred and 54 were dismissed. Only 16 convictions have been secured as a result of HB 1501, 9% of charges filed, and less than 1% of all investigations funded by the grant program.
In the latest report, WASPC Executive Director Steve Strachan wrote that “we are perplexed by feedback from multiple local law enforcement agencies regarding prosecutorial decline of cases. While a significant number of investigations conclude without charges for a variety of reasons, those cases that either can be or are referred for prosecution should be considered with greater emphasis.”
One of the “variety of reasons” charges aren’t forwarded from local police to the prosecutor was due to a false positive on a failed background check. In WASPC’s 2020 report, it’s noted the association “has received word, through the grant program and anecdotally, about individuals incorrectly being denied transactions.”
WASPC’s 2019 report stated that “these instances continue to demonstrate the need to remedy identified gaps and inconsistencies within the firearms background check process. WASPC urges the Legislature to give full consideration to the December 2019 OFM Feasibility Study for a Single Point of Contact Firearm Background Check System, as many of these challenges are addressed in those recommendations.”
The 2019 feasibility study concluded that “creating a single point-of-contact system is both feasible and an advisable course of action to pursue.” The following year, the Legislature passed a bill creating that system to be run by the Washington State Patrol, or WSP, which submitted an implementation plan in December 2020. According to its implementation timeline, the system is expected to be up and running statewide by January 2024.
