Update: This post has been updated with reaction from state Rep. Jamie Pedersen about the bill’s prospects. OLYMPIA — A controversial gun control measure cleared its first major hurdle Tuesday, moving out of the state House Judiciary Committee on a 7-6 vote. One Republican supported the bill — state Rep. Mike Hope, a Seattle police officer who…

OLYMPIA — Amid arguments over the Bible and gun-violence statistics, a state House panel Wednesday morning took up a proposal to eliminate all exceptions to required background checks for firearm sales. The proposal, House Bill 1588, is a central and controversial part of Democrats’ push to enact new restrictions in the wake of the gruesome…

Good Morning. Democrats are falling all over themselves with unbounded enthusiasm. Republican Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri and his off-the-wall crack about rape and pregnancy — he said women’s bodies somehow reject pregnancy in cases of  “legitimate rape” — are an irresistible gift for the D’s.  And they accept.  It took U.S. Sen. Patty Murray about…