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The Associated Press and The Seattle Times OLYMPIA — A measure seeking to prevent Washington state from expanding gun-sale background checks beyond federal law has been rejected by voters. Votes counted Wednesday for Initiative 591 increased the No campaign’s lead by about 18,000. For the Yes side to catch up, it would need about 56 percent of…

OLYMPIA (AP) — A campaign seeking to expand gun-sale background checks has received a $500,000 donation from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. The donation to Initiative 594 posted on the state’s Public Disclosure Commission website Monday afternoon. I-594 would require background checks for all gun sales and transfers in Washington state, including at gun shows and private sales….

Washington state voters support both expanding background checks for gun sales and restricting background checks for gun sales, according to an Elway Poll released Tuesday. The poll, the first public survey of voters to gauge support for the initiatives simultaneously, shows the pro-background check Initiative 594 is starting the campaign in better shape. But the anti-background check…

OLYMPIA — The state House Republican Caucus has removed Rep. Mike Hope from the Judiciary Committee, a move some Democrats say was retaliation for the moderate member joining with them last year to support universal background checks for gun sales. Hope, a former Seattle police officer who lives in Lake Stevens, was replaced on the committee…

Initiatives for and against additional gun restrictions have officially been certified, setting up a near-certain November showdown. Secretary of State Kim Wyman announced Friday that Initiative 591 had officially qualified as an initiative to the Legislature, joining Initiative 594, which got the formal OK last week. Initiative 591 would prohibit any confiscation of guns without due process…

OLYMPIA — Former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords testified before the Washington State House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday afternoon, symbolically casting her story of surviving a gunshot wound to the head as an argument for lawmakers to adopt expand background-check requirements to cover all gun sales. Giffords and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, testified in support of…

Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will testify in Olympia Tuesday afternoon in favor of an initiative to expand background checks for gun buyers. Giffords, a Democrat, survived being shot in the head at a public appearance in Tucson in January 2011. Six other people were killed and a dozen injured in the shooting rampage by…

After months of collection efforts, supporters and opponents of expanded background checks for gun sales appear to have come up with about the same number of signatures — and it’s more than enough to qualify both for the ballot. A spokesman for Initiative 594, which would require the checks for all sales, said supporters will submit…

OLYMPIA — Second Amendment activists submitted an estimated 340,000 signatures Thursday, likely enough to qualify their initiative to prevent Washington state from adopting universal background checks for gun sales. The checks are currently required for sales by licensed dealers, but not for purchases from private sellers. “This is a monumental effort to protect our gun rights,” said Alan…

Supporters of an initiative to prevent Washington state from adopting universal background checks for gun sales have collected 340,000 signatures — more than enough to qualify for the ballot in 2014, sponsors say. Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Bellevue-based national Second Amendment Foundation, said supporters are planning to submit the signatures in Olympia on Thursday. They’ll…