Tagged: Politics

Gun control advocates are regrouping this week. They’re looking at their options, now that a bill to broaden background checks for gun sales failed in the Washington legislature. They want to seize a moment when they believe public sentiment is on their side. KUOW’s Amy Radil reports.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – A controversial proposal to require criminal background checks for most gun purchases appears to have died in the Washington House. That announcement came Tuesday night after two days of efforts to wrangle enough votes to pass the measure.

The Tea Party has become a fixture in American politics. But the Sanka Party? Not so much. Other than an interest in hot beverages, the two activist groups have little in common. The Sanka Party got started last summer near Tacoma, Wash., in the unlikeliest of places: inside the walls of the state’s largest psychiatric institution.

The fate of a universal background check measure in the Washington state House could be decided this week. Wednesday is a key cut-off deadline. Recently the gun control measure lost a pivotal “yes” vote. Olympia Correspondent Austin Jenkins explains.