(AP)
If I-1639 passes, it would make Washington’s gun laws among the strictest in the nation. At the same time it would mark a hard fought victory for Paul Kramer, the Mukilteo man sponsoring the initiative.
In 2016, a 19 year old armed with an AR-15 walked into a house party in Mukilteo[1] and opened fire. Three teens were killed and a fourth, Kramer’s 18-year-old son, was severely injured.
The teenage gunman was upset about a break-up with his girlfriend who was at the party. He was able to legally buy his AR-15 a week before the shooting. He was reading the manual for the gun in his car[2], outside the home, right before the shooting.
I-1639 is a sweeping gun safety initiative[3]. Kramer says if the provisions in the initiative were in effect in 2016, the shooter would not have been able to buy the assault rifle.
“A person would need to be 21 years old; they will go through an enhanced background check,” Kramer said. “There will also be a 10-day waiting period for the purchase [of semi-automatic rifles]. There’s a safety training requirement in advance of purchase. Separately, there’s also an additional component in Initiative 1639 that incentivizes safe storage for all firearms.”
That safe storage requirement is one of the top reasons gun rights groups are against this initiative, according to Dave Workman at the GunMag.com.
“We’re talking about a constitutional right to have a gun here, and still, the initiative doesn’t really define what they think secure storage is,” Workman said. “They just say you need to do that or we can have you charged with either a gross misdemeanor
