Before you can buy a gun in Washington, a new law says you'll have to attend a government-authorized class. Signed into law last week, House Bill 1163 does not go into effect until May 2027. The next Legislature should repeal it before it does, as it will not achieve the results sponsors promised. Even worse, it sets a dangerous precedent at a time our constitutional rights are under attack.
The new law not only requires a person to attend a government-authorized class before receiving a permit to buy a gun, but requires a person to pay probably between $75 and $150 for the permit and training — and to do that every five years.
Democratic legislators promised this mandatory firearm training managed by the Washington State Patrol will reduce gun-related deaths, but I doubt it will. Not knowing how to fire a gun is not the reason most people in Washington are shot dead.
Every year in Washington, guns kill between 780 and 1,100 people. About 70% of those deaths are suicide. Most of those suicide victims are white males over 54. Too many are veterans. It is not clear to me how requiring these men to pay for and attend a firearm class will keep them from taking their own life.
If legislators were actually serious about reducing gun-related deaths, they would overhaul Washington state's mental health system.
According to the nonprofit Mental Health America, Washington state ranks 49th out of 50 states for the prevalence of people suffering from mental health issues (50th being the highest prevalence).
"If we want to do more to prevent gun deaths, we should improve access to depression and suicide-prevention services..."
Tragically, those statistics include children. In Washington, of those killed by guns each year, about 65 are minors, with 52% of those deaths by suicide. Washington also ranks 49th out of 50 states for the prevalence of mental health issues among children and for their access to mental health care.
In Washington, we already require background checks and a waiting period before you can buy a gun. We have safe-storage laws. Family members can petition a judge to take guns from those they believe might shoot themselves or others. If we want to do more to prevent gun deaths, we should improve access to depression and suicide-prevention services, not mandate firearm training.
Signed by Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson last week, the new law requires that anyone who wants to buy a firearm in the state first get a permit. The new requirements include paying a fee, submitting fingerprints and passing a background check. Applicants also must go through a gun safety course under the supervision of the Washington State Patrol Firearms Background Check program that will include actually firing a gun. They will also need to renew that permit every five years. It follows similar permit-to-purchase laws that exist in a handful of other states, including California, Illinois and New York. The new law takes effect in May 2027.
But my bigger problem with this law is that it undermines the U.S. Constitution when all of us who care about preserving our republic need to be defending it.
The Second Amendment to the Constitution states that the right to bear arms shall not be infringed. Some might argue requiring a person to pay $75 to $150 for a government-authorized class is not an infringement, but it is if you can't afford it. And if a person fails the government class, can the government then deny that person a permit to buy a gun? That would be an infringement.
Imagine the protests if Washington legislators passed a law requiring citizens to pay to attend a government-sponsored class before they could vote for president. It could. Such a law might be challenged under the state constitution, but people have no federal right to vote for president. We do have a U.S. constitutional right to bear arms.
Despite that, many on Washington's left are celebrating this new gun law. Rather than celebrate, they should consider that a government that can require a person to pay for and attend a government-authorized class before being allowed to buy a gun is a government that can require a person to pay for and attend a government class before being allowed to march in a protest. That is not an absurd hypothetical.
The Trump administration is attacking our right to peacefully assemble, to speak and write freely (the First Amendment). Our protections against unwarranted search and seizure (the Fourth Amendment), and our right to due process and public trials (the Fifth and Sixth Amendments) are also being challenged. This is not a moment to support the precedent of requiring people to pay for and attend a government-authorized class before they can exercise a constitutional right.
All who justly decry the Trump administration's attacks on our country's Constitution should with equal vigor oppose Washington state's new gun law.
Of course, there are instances when the rights of an individual must be balanced against the good of the community. But in this case, and particularly in this time, eroding a constitutional right when it's unlikely that erosion will deliver any community good, is reckless. ♦
Bill Bryant, who served on the Seattle Port Commission from 2008-16, ran against Jay Inslee as the Republican nominee in the 2016 governor's race. He lives in Winthrop, Washington.
