Background Check Bill Doesn't Have Votes in House

[eridani]

2. Bill’s defeat a case study on gun issue

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020577201_westneat17xml.html

The gun-control drive in Olympia apparently ended last week, when a modest bill to expand background checks to private gun sales failed to even get a vote.

Why did it fail? The story of Rep. Maureen Walsh, R-Walla Walla, says it all.

She was one of the original sponsors of House Bill 1588. It said if you sell a gun but are not a gun dealer, you have to do a background check to see if the buyer is eligible to own a gun.

You’d have to go to a gun shop or police and pay them $20 to do the check. All kind of a hassle, yes. But the point was to slow the easy transfer of guns to people who shouldn’t have them.

After the NRA leafleted her district, flooding her with 1,000 calls and emails, Walsh changed her position to “no.” So ended the bill’s momentum.