OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - The Washington secretary of state’s office has certified a ballot measure that seeks to raise the minimum age to buy semi-automatic rifles to 21 from 18, require enhanced background checks and require gun owners to secure firearms kept in their homes.
In a press release Friday announcing that Initiative 1639 has qualified for the November ballot, Secretary of State Kim Wyman said she still had concerns about whether the format of the petitions was constitutional. Wyman’s office says that state law requires a “readable, full, true, and correct” of the measure to be printed on the reverse side of the petition, but that the text of the I-1639 petition sheets lacked underlining and strikethroughs to explain its changes to existing law.
But Wyman said because enough signatures were valid in order to meet the constitutional requirements to make the ballot, her authority over specific criteria of the petitions is limited.
Also Friday, the National Rifle Association filed a lawsuit challenging Wyman’s decision to certify the petition sheets, which they argue are flawed. A previous lawsuit filed by Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation and other parties challenging the petitions was dismissed by a state Supreme Court Commissioner earlier this month.
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