After a Washington judge had thrown out over 300,000 signatures to get I-1639, a gun safety measure, onto the November ballot, the Washington State Supreme Court reversed the decision.
I-1639, if approved by Washington voters, would increase restrictions on owning and purchasing firearms. This includes raising the age of purchase for semi-automatic rifles to 21, expanding background checks for the purchase of semi-automatic rifles, and requiring purchasers to complete a firearm-safety course within the previous five years. It also sets a 10-day waiting period where firearm dealers can’t deliver a semi-automatic rifle to the purchaser, and sets standards for storing firearms.
The measure needed roughly 260,000 signatures in order to get on the November ballot, and the campaign turned in more than 300,000 in July.
Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman certified the signatures the week of July 27, but said she had concerns about whether the format of the initiative sheets complied with constitutional requirements.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) and Adam Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation challenged the legality of the signature sheets, and ultimately Thurston County Superior Court Judge James Dixon agreed, telling Wyman’s office to stop the certification of the initiative.
Mukilteo resident Tim Eyman, the conservative political activist perhaps best known for his $30 car tab campaigns, said in his newsletter that some of his supporters told him I-1639 signature gatherers were “using our $30 tabs initiative as ‘bait’ to get folks to sign I-1639 petitions.”
Eyman said he provided Gottlieb with his attorney, Joel Ard, for a second round of litigation, which he attended, and was happy to have helped get the signatures thrown out.
An attorney for the Alliance for Gun Responsibility appealed Dixon’s decision, bringing it before the state Supreme Court.
Eyman said
