Infographic: Washington's competing gun control initiatives

The basics on guns on in Washington state: The state's current rules, what's on your ballot and why it matters.

Crosscut contributors

Crosscut contributors Jun 15, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

Republish Article

You can republish articles in print or online. Simply copy the HTML below, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline, and credit to Cascade PBS. Republishing of the photos or videos embedded in an article can occur only if the photo or video is a copyright of Cascade Public Media ("CPM") and not of a third party. Photos and videos that are a copyright of CPM are not required to appear in the republished article, but if they are used, they must be embedded where they appear in the original article and must include the attribution to the CPM photographer.

You may reprint in any medium
You may edit only for tense and timeliness
If republishing in print you can edit for length if you follow our print republishing guidelines.
You may write your own headline
Include a byline and shirttail with credit and link to Cascade PBS
Include our tracking pixel
Remove if we ask

          <article>
            <header>
              <hgroup>
                <h1>Infographic: Washington's competing gun control initiatives</h1>
                <h2><p>The basics on guns on in Washington state: The state's current rules, what's on your ballot and why it matters.</p></h2>
              </hgroup>
               <p>By <a href="/author/info-crosscut-com/">Crosscut contributors</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
            </header>
            <p>The basics on guns on in Washington state: The state's current rules, what's on your ballot and why it matters.</p><p><em><strong>A Crosscut.com collaboration with Seattle magazine.</strong></em></p><p>When fall ballots land in mailboxes this week, Washington voters will be asked to vote on two opposing gun control initiatives — one calling for expanded background checks, the other keeping the current system of background checks in place. Below, we explore the dueling initiatives, some of Washington's existing rules around gun ownership and what gun laws have meant in other states.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><a href="http://crosscut.com/media/stories/guns-09-2014/?ref=cascadepbs.org"><img src="http://crosscut.com/media/stories/guns-09-2014/img/guns2.jpg" class="kg-image" alt loading="lazy"></a></figure><p><a href="http://crosscut.com/media/stories/guns-09-2014/?ref=cascadepbs.org">Click for infographic about guns in Washington state.</a></p>
          </article>

The basics on guns on in Washington state: The state's current rules, what's on your ballot and why it matters.

A Crosscut.com collaboration with Seattle magazine.

When fall ballots land in mailboxes this week, Washington voters will be asked to vote on two opposing gun control initiatives — one calling for expanded background checks, the other keeping the current system of background checks in place. Below, we explore the dueling initiatives, some of Washington's existing rules around gun ownership and what gun laws have meant in other states.