Opinion
The Washington State Patrol background check system came back online Sunday at 1 p.m., according to WSP spokesman Chris Loftis, but this may not appease angry gun owners whose constitutional rights have effectively been on hold for more than two weeks, or the retailers who were literally put between the proverbial rock and hard place.
In a Sunday text message, WSP spokesman Chris Loftis advised, “WSP Firearms Background staff will take this next week to get caught up and it will take a while to navigate all outstanding checks, but we will work them as quickly as we safely and accurately can. We are cognizant of the public’s legal rights to own, purchase, and sell firearms and will continue to do our best to mitigate the impacts of the recent system outage as expeditiously as the law, safety and capacity will allow.”
However, in a follow-up text, he added, “I can only speak to the SAFE system and have no insights to the overall cyber situation at AOC. Those questions would be better directed to them directly.”
The Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) system was taken offline earlier this month due to “unauthorized activity,” and as a result, the Secure Automated Firearms E-Check (SAFE) was shut down. For more than two weeks, thousands of firearms transactions were stalled because the background checks could not be conducted by WSP.
While the shutdown appears to be over, the frustration remains. Retailer Dan Mitchell, whose store is in the Vancouver area, raised these questions:
- How secure is the state’s system?
- How poor is the state’s response to a constitutional issue?
- How do we fix this issue in particular?
When does the DOL registry get hacked? Pistol transfer records from 1935, Semi auto rifles since 2019 and everything since January 1, 2024. That’s a lot of personal data available from the State’s porous IT firewalls and security.
Via email, Mitchell told Ammoland, “With the restoration of the court records access, the state has restored its obligation to not willfully impair or infringe on our constitutional rights. Sadly, the state has set another example of how vulnerable and weak their computer databases are. Imagine if the state’s firearm registry going back to 1935, was hacked and exposed? It’s just a matter of time, the state of Washington IT systems prove to be outdated, unreliable and vulnerable.
“We’re pleased that the system is operational,” he added, “but the case has proven the state is not a secure guardian of our rights, nor our data. The legislature must take action to assure our 2nd amendment rights will be protected, even if their computers fail, and even when it’s not during business hours.”
The breakdown made national news, with reports published by the New York Post and Fox News.
The situation infuriated gun owners and brought threats of legal action from the Second Amendment Foundation. Also, the National Shooting Sports Foundation advised the WSP that the situation was unacceptable.
In a statement provided to Ammoland News Friday, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Lawrence Keane said, “The lack of urgency from Washington State officials regarding their e-check SAFE background check system is extremely concerning and NSSF is considering all options in order to ensure law-abiding Washingtonians can soon again exercise their Second Amendment rights. The state must switch to the FBI NICS system until they resolve these issues, but patience is wearing thin.”
Earlier, SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb said in a statement, “The state has denied untold numbers of citizens their right to obtain firearms for almost two weeks. This amounts to a mass deprivation of civil rights under color of law.”
The problem can be traced back to the passage in 2023 of House Bill 1143, a measure sponsored by 18 House Democrats and requested by Inslee’s office. The law took effect Jan. 1 of this year.
Gun owners are in agreement that the law needs to be changed to allow emergency access to the FBI National Instant Check System (NICS) in the event his happens again, or simply change the law entirely to allow access to the NICS system.
The legislators who sponsored the original bill might be the first people to contact, to make the necessary changes. They are Representatives Jessica Bateman, Liz Berry, Lisa Callan, Lauren Davis, Davina Duerr, Beth Doglio, Mary Fosse, Shelley Kloba, Debra Lekanoff, Nicole Macri, Timm Ormsby, Strom Peterson, Gerry Pollet, Alex Ramel, Julia Reed, Tana Senn, Chipalo Street and Amy Walen.
Anecdotal reports indicate WSP has been speeding through the backlog, but this does not mean the situation has been resolved. Gun owners and retailers expect the state to explain exactly what happened and how. Second, they need to know what will be done to prevent it from happening again. Third is for the Legislature to fix the law. A backup plan may be initiated immediately if needed.
In a clearly unscientific survey, four possible solutions were suggested via social media:
A) IMMEDIATE legislative fix to allow state to revert back to using the FBI NICS system as a backup? This would include immediate same-day transfer of handguns to everyone with an active concealed pistol license, no exceptions.
B) IMMEDIATE scrapping of the state background check and revert back to NICS entirely, period, allowing same-day transfers of long guns.
C) SCRAP the Inslee/Ferguson* 10-day waiting period and revert back to immediate same-day transactions for rifles and shotguns, and 3-day wait for handguns for those without a CPL. This would ALSO include immediate same-day transfer of handguns to everyone with an active concealed pistol license, no exceptions. (Refers to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson, both Democrats. Ferguson recently won election as Washington’s next governor, after Inslee steps down in January.)
D) SCRAP the waiting period entirely, since the NICS check (this stands for ‘National Instant Check System’) is supposed to be able to complete a check within minutes.
A small number of respondents favored Option D slightly more than Option C.
Among the reactions were some interesting comments:
- One woman named Johanna wrote: “C – I have a CPL. I should not need to wait as I’ve already been vetted. Use the national system. No need to fund a separate state system that is effectively redundant.”
- Another woman, Lisa, said this: “C – why? This is the ‘system’ that I am most familiar with. I received training, and obtained my CPL – with fingerprints and background check – so I see no reason why I need a ‘cooling off period.’”
- A man named David wrote, “C is the correct choice in my mind. Anybody that has the ability to get the concealed carry permit should be able to purchase without an added wait period.”
- A man named Matt stated, “While I would love D, I think A is a realistic option. NICS check is an appropriate backup to the SAFE check for all buyers. And CPL holders have already undergone a more extensive background check, so there is no justification for delaying transfers to them until NICS or SAFE are reenabled.”
- And a man named Warren observed, “D. My rights are currently being suspended, as I am currently affected by this. While my safety is not affected, others may be in a situation where their safety is affected by these delays. This should roll back to option D – if you are checked you are checked. I don’t think the waiting period does anything and should not be used.”
Some people may be hoping getting back on line will close the books on this. But that might be wishful thinking.
About Dave Workman
