The Seattle Times Editorial Board endorses Initiative 594:

Washington voters have an important opportunity to make an incremental step toward greater public safety.

On the November ballot, they face two gun-related initiatives. Voters should approve Initiative 594, which would require background checks on all gun sales. They should reject the other proposal.

The same quick, familiar background screening done by gun dealers for retail sales would be applied to purchases at gun shows, and for online sales and private transactions.

The goal is simple: Protect Washington residents from those the law and sad experiences have demonstrated should not have access to firearms — those with felony convictions, sex offenders, domestic abusers and those with serious mental illnesses.

These prohibited buyers are already screened at one level of transaction: gun shops. I-594 simply makes a logical extension of background checks to other public and private settings that now evade scrutiny.

Read the whole endorsement editorial here.