BILL REQ. #:  H-1864.1 

Read first time 02/19/09.   Referred to Committee on Judiciary.

     AN ACT Relating to the sale of firearms at gun shows and events; amending RCW 9.41.010; adding a new section to chapter 9.41 RCW; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 9.41 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (6) of this section, a person who, while at a gun show or event, offers to sell or transfer a firearm to another person must be licensed as a dealer under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 923 and post the license in accordance with 27 C.F.R. Secs. 178.91 and 178.100(a).
     (2) The licensed dealer shall:
     (a) Perform a background check of the prospective transferee in accordance with RCW 9.41.090 and 18 U.S.C. Sec. 921 et seq.; and
     (b) Obtain approval of a transfer from the local law enforcement agency for a handgun or the Federal Bureau of Investigation, national crime information center, for a long gun, in accordance with RCW 9.41.090 and 18 U.S.C. Sec. 921 et seq.
     (3) The licensed dealer who performs the background check on a prospective transferee shall record the transfer, as provided in RCW 9.41.090 and 18 U.S.C. Sec. 922 and shall retain the records in the same manner as when conducting a sale, rental, or exchange at retail, as provided in RCW 9.41.090 and in 18 U.S.C. Sec. 922.
     (4) The Washington state patrol will establish a reasonable fee to cover costs for each background check conducted at a gun show or event.
     (5) A person who organizes, promotes, or otherwise sponsors a gun show or event shall:
     (a) Ensure that any person who, while at the gun show or event, offers to sell or transfer a firearm to another person complies with the requirements of subsection (2)(a) of this section;
     (b) Provide the services of a person licensed as a dealer under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 923 to conduct the transactions described in subsection (2)(a) of this section; and
     (c) Post prominently a notice, in a form to be described by the director of the department of licensing or his or her designee, setting forth the requirements for a background check as provided in this section.
     (6) A person other than a dealer may only offer for sale or transfer a firearm while at a gun show or event, if any resulting sale or transfer of the firearm is conducted through a person licensed as a dealer under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 923, and that licensed dealer performs a background check in accordance with RCW 9.41.090 and 18 U.S.C. Sec. 921 et seq.
     (7) A violation of this section is a gross misdemeanor.

Sec. 2   RCW 9.41.010 and 2001 c 300 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.
     (1) "Firearm" means a weapon or device from which a projectile or projectiles may be fired by an explosive such as gunpowder.
     (2) "Pistol" means any firearm with a barrel less than sixteen inches in length, or is designed to be held and fired by the use of a single hand.
     (3) "Rifle" means a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed metallic cartridge to fire only a single projectile through a rifled bore for each single pull of the trigger.
     (4) "Short-barreled rifle" means a rifle having one or more barrels less than sixteen inches in length and any weapon made from a rifle by any means of modification if such modified weapon has an overall length of less than twenty-six inches.
     (5) "Shotgun" means a weapon with one or more barrels, designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed shotgun shell to fire through a smooth bore either a number of ball shot or a single projectile for each single pull of the trigger.
     (6) "Short-barreled shotgun" means a shotgun having one or more barrels less than eighteen inches in length and any weapon made from a shotgun by any means of modification if such modified weapon has an overall length of less than twenty-six inches.
     (7) "Machine gun" means any firearm known as a machine gun, mechanical rifle, submachine gun, or any other mechanism or instrument not requiring that the trigger be pressed for each shot and having a reservoir clip, disc, drum, belt, or other separable mechanical device for storing, carrying, or supplying ammunition which can be loaded into the firearm, mechanism, or instrument, and fired therefrom at the rate of five or more shots per second.
     (8) "Antique firearm" means a firearm or replica of a firearm not designed or redesigned for using rim fire or conventional center fire ignition with fixed ammunition and manufactured in or before 1898, including any matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or similar type of ignition system and also any firearm using fixed ammunition manufactured in or before 1898, for which ammunition is no longer manufactured in the United States and is not readily available in the ordinary channels of commercial trade.
     (9) "Loaded" means:
     (a) There is a cartridge in the chamber of the firearm;
     (b) Cartridges are in a clip that is locked in place in the firearm;
     (c) There is a cartridge in the cylinder of the firearm, if the firearm is a revolver;
     (d) There is a cartridge in the tube or magazine that is inserted in the action; or
     (e) There is a ball in the barrel and the firearm is capped or primed if the firearm is a muzzle loader.
     (10) "Dealer" means a person engaged in the business of selling firearms at wholesale or retail who has, or is required to have, a federal firearms license under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 923(a). A person who does not have, and is not required to have, a federal firearms license under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 923(a), is not a dealer if that person makes only occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or sells all or part of his or her personal collection of firearms, in a private transaction not through a gun show or event.
     (11) "Crime of violence" means:
     (a) Any of the following felonies, as now existing or hereafter amended: Any felony defined under any law as a class A felony or an attempt to commit a class A felony, criminal solicitation of or criminal conspiracy to commit a class A felony, manslaughter in the first degree, manslaughter in the second degree, indecent liberties if committed by forcible compulsion, kidnapping in the second degree, arson in the second degree, assault in the second degree, assault of a child in the second degree, extortion in the first degree, burglary in the second degree, residential burglary, and robbery in the second degree;
     (b) Any conviction for a felony offense in effect at any time prior to June 6, 1996, which is comparable to a felony classified as a crime of violence in (a) of this subsection; and
     (c) Any federal or out-of-state conviction for an offense comparable to a felony classified as a crime of violence under (a) or (b) of this subsection.
     (12) "Serious offense" means any of the following felonies or a felony attempt to commit any of the following felonies, as now existing or hereafter amended:
     (a) Any crime of violence;
     (b) Any felony violation of the uniform controlled substances act, chapter 69.50 RCW, that is classified as a class B felony or that has a maximum term of imprisonment of at least ten years;
     (c) Child molestation in the second degree;
     (d) Incest when committed against a child under age fourteen;
     (e) Indecent liberties;
     (f) Leading organized crime;
     (g) Promoting prostitution in the first degree;
     (h) Rape in the third degree;
     (i) Drive-by shooting;
     (j) Sexual exploitation;
     (k) Vehicular assault, when caused by the operation or driving of a vehicle by a person while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any drug or by the operation or driving of a vehicle in a reckless manner;
     (l) Vehicular homicide, when proximately caused by the driving of any vehicle by any person while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any drug as defined by RCW 46.61.502, or by the operation of any vehicle in a reckless manner;
     (m) Any other class B felony offense with a finding of sexual motivation, as "sexual motivation" is defined under RCW 9.94A.030;
     (n) Any other felony with a deadly weapon verdict under RCW 9.94A.602; or
     (o) Any felony offense in effect at any time prior to June 6, 1996, that is comparable to a serious offense, or any federal or out-of-state conviction for an offense that under the laws of this state would be a felony classified as a serious offense.
     (13) "Law enforcement officer" includes a general authority Washington peace officer as defined in RCW 10.93.020, or a specially commissioned Washington peace officer as defined in RCW 10.93.020. "Law enforcement officer" also includes a limited authority Washington peace officer as defined in RCW 10.93.020 if such officer is duly authorized by his or her employer to carry a concealed pistol.
     (14) "Felony" means any felony offense under the laws of this state or any federal or out-of-state offense comparable to a felony offense under the laws of this state.
     (15) "Sell" refers to the actual approval of the delivery of a firearm in consideration of payment or promise of payment of a certain price in money.
     (16) "Barrel length" means the distance from the bolt face of a closed action down the length of the axis of the bore to the crown of the muzzle, or in the case of a barrel with attachments to the end of any legal device permanently attached to the end of the muzzle.
     (17) "Family or household member" means "family" or "household member" as used in RCW 10.99.020.
     (18)(a) "Gun show or event" means a place or event, a gun trade show, gun collectors' show, flea market, or auction, other than a permanent retail store, at which three or more individuals assemble to display, sell, lease, or transfer new or used firearms or firearm components to the public and that is not exempt from collecting sales tax under RCW 82.08.0251.
     (b) "Gun show or event" includes a place or event where ten or more firearms are offered for transfer or transferred.
     (c) "Gun show or event" includes, but is not limited to, an area near the gun show or event that the sponsor knows or should reasonably know will be used for parking for the gun show or event.