The Seattle PI reports

During the 2013 fiscal year, 685 felons and domestic violence offenders were sentenced in state court simply for possessing firearms, according to the state Caseload Forecast Council. Another 150 Washington residents – most of whom were convicts caught with weapons – were sentenced federally for gun crimes. Uncounted others were sent back to prison for using firearms in other, more serious crimes.

[…]

Surveys conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics show one in nine inmates who used a gun in the crime that saw them incarcerated bought the weapon from a licensed seller; first-time offenders would have been able to do so legally. Nearly all the rest claimed they borrowed the gun from a friend or bought it on the street.

Backers of Washington’s Initiative 594 argue the expanded background checks on private gun sales will help stop felons and others barred by law from buying guns from doing so.

Zach Silk, campaign manager for Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility, said the initiative will close what’s commonly known as the “gun show loophole” by requiring all gun buyers undergo a background check.

While background checks are required of gun buyers purchasing through a federally licensed dealer, private party sales – sales at gun shows, person-to-person sales online – don’t receive the same scrutiny. Silk said I-594 would level the field by requiring the same background check on all sales and most transfers of ownership.

“We have this whole unregulated market out there … that makes it very easy for someone who is not legally able to own a gun,” Silk said. “When you close that loophole, it makes it a lot more difficult for those people to get guns.”

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