LYNDEN — The Lynden Pioneer Museum will not surrender its weapons after all. A pawn shop in Bonney Lake has reached out to the museum, offering to complete the paperwork required under a new gun background-check law that goes into effect on Dec. 4.
Museum Director Troy Luginbill had said he would pull 11 historic guns from a World War II exhibit and return them to their owners, to avoid breaking the law created by Initiative 594. Most of the guns should be able to remain on display, Luginbill said.
The law was intended to close a loophole in the state’s background-check requirement by including firearms purchased at gun shows and online. I-594 passed with 59 percent of voters in favor, both statewide and in Whatcom County. However, in Lynden the initiative got just 38 percent of the vote.
The museum got caught up in the new law’s requirements — at least as Luginbill, the museum’s board and its attorney interpreted it. Background checks are required even of people who borrow a gun, with a few exceptions. Museums weren’t among those exceptions, and the state Attorney General’s Office has yet to offer an opinion on how to interpret I-594.
