By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
UPDATE, 1-5/23: Tucked at the end of a pre-filed Senate bill in the Washington State Legislature, ostensibly dealing with school student privacy, is a provision that appears to remove privacy protection from participants in a 2019 “bump stock buyback” program, however, that now does not appear to be the case.
According to an email message from Erin Hut, communications specialist for the Senate Democratic Caucus in Olympia, “The line at the end of the bill was a technical edit made by the CRO because the program in question ended in 2020.” Long story short, the deletion appears to be nothing more than a housekeeping effort, perhaps poorly executed.
The issue was initially brought to TGM’s attention by a source who keeps tabs on Evergreen State legislative activities initially asserted the bill as an attempt by Democrats to “sneak through a change to the Washington Public Records Act that would eliminate confidentiality for people who participated in the bump stock buyback program… And they’ve done their best to cloak it in a bill about student privacy.”
However, according to Hut, who sent an email to TGM for clarification after the story appeared Wednesday, “The information that was being protected now doesn’t exist.”
The Legislature convenes Jan. 9.
Senate Bill 5127 is sponsored by Democrat Senators Claire Wilson, the assistant majority Whip representing the 30th District in south King County, and Liz Lovelett, whose 40th District encompasses the San Juan Islands.
TGM did reach out to both senators’ offices for an explanation prior to publication, but neither office responded. Hut’s communication Thursday morning was the only response TGM received.
The four-page bill provides protections for a school district’s ability “to redact personal information related to a student in any record maintained by the school district.” The bill further notes, “The legislature recognizes the important public interest in maintaining an open and transparent government and the critically important role that our public records act plays in ensuring the people of Washington have access to public records maintained by state and local agencies with narrow exemptions. The legislature recognizes that protecting the personal information of our minor students is also of critical importance, especially when disclosure of that personal information could potentially jeopardize the physical or mental health and safety of a student.”
But in the final section, it crosses out existing statutory language that says, “Names, addresses, or other personal information of individuals who participated in the bump-fire stock buy-back program under RCW 43.43.920,” meaning this privacy protection is removed. This set off alarms.
At the time of the buyback program in 2019, there was considerable controversy over protecting the privacy of the 324 people who turned in “bump stocks” for $150 each after the devices had been outlawed. The Legislature set aside $150,000 for the project and 1,000 bump stocks were turned in. A story in the Seattle Times elicited comments from gun owners who said disclosure of the information would guarantee nobody would ever participate in such a program again.
At the time, KUOW reported “Hundreds of gun owners told the State Patrol that they feared repercussions, from losing their jobs to having their homes targeted for burglaries or protests.”
Two lawsuits were filed to block the release of the information, one in state court and the other in federal court.
Bump stocks were after-market accessories designed to increase the rate of fire of a standard semiautomatic rifle. They were used by the man who opened fire on an outdoor concert in Las Vegas in October 2017, killing 58 people and wounding hundreds of others.
