by Gabby Giffords and her Americans for Responsible Solutions are touting the success of Washington State’s I-594 in stopping felons from purchasing firearms. The 50 felons were attempting to purchase a firearm through a private sale and not through a FFL.
Commonsense gun laws work: In its first 14 mos., WA’s new background check law blocked 50 felons from getting a gun: https://t.co/O8Q7JGJGGk— ARS (@resp_solutions) April 1, 2016
Given the Tweet was published on April 1, I don’t know if this is an April Fools joke on their part or not.
Doing the math which I hope that even Gabby could do, 50 felons divided by 14 months equals 3.57 attempted purchases per month or less than one per week. If that is a measure of success, it is a dumbing down of the meaning of success. All this proves is that 50 felons were stupid enough to try and purchase a firearm from someone who submitted the sale to a background check. No word on how many sales were made on street corners of stolen guns being sold by criminal gangs.
According to the story that accompanies her Tweet, not one felon was prosecuted for attempting to purchase a firearm.
2015 violent crime statistics for Washington State have not been released by the FBI and should not be expected until mid-year or later.