Proposed legislation that would require gun dealers in Washington state to follow new safety and security guidelines moved another step closer to becoming law.
On Tuesday, the state Senate passed an amended version of Engrossed Substitute House Bill 2118. Owing to the changes in the Senate, the bill must return to the House of Representatives, which will decide whether or not to agree with the changes.
ESHB 2118 would require gun dealers to run annual background checks on their employees, carry $1 million in liability insurance, install steel doors or bars at the location, and meet more stringent requirements for storage and security systems with audio and video surveillance.
Under the bill passed by the House, federal firearms licensed dealers would have to maintain 730 days of surveillance video. Amendments adopted by the Senate on Tuesday lowered that to 90 days while requiring maintaining recordings in all other areas as needed for 45 days.
“It’s about keeping firearms safe – the inventory safe,” bill sponsor Rep. Amy Walen, D-Kirkland, said at a Feb. 19 public hearing before the Senate Law & Justice Committee. “It’s about promptly reporting incidents. And it’s about the ability of law enforcement to track straw purchases.”
She went on to say, “I think most of what’s on here honestly is probably already done by a lot of gun dealers.”
Shooting victim Cheryl Stumbo provided remote testimony in favor of the bill.
She was shot in the stomach – enduring 20 surgeries over a three-year period – when Naveed Afzal Haq shot six women, one fatally, at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle building on July 28, 2006.
