Prosecutors: Man broke Washington gun check law

OAK HARBOR (AP) — Prosecutors in Island County have filed what is believed to be the first criminal charge for a violation of Washington’s 2014 gun background check law.

Mark Mercado, 25, was charged last week in Island County Superior Court with unlawful transfer of a firearm, KING-TV and Northwest News Network reported. Prosecutors said he sold a handgun to David Nunez in November 2015 which they believe was used the next night to kill John Skyler Johnson, 17.

Washington voters approved Initiative 594 in 2014. It requires people transferring a firearm to go through a federally licensed firearms dealer to conduct a background check on the buyer. But prosecutors said Mercado sold Nunez the .22-caliber pistol without any such check.

“The focus of the law enforcement officers was they wanted to get the pedigree of the gun and find the gun so that it could be used in the murder prosecution,” said Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks. “But it occurred to us that, ‘Hey, this is also a gun that was transferred illegally and our job is to prosecute crimes when they are referred to us.’ And so we are.”

Nunez did not have a criminal record, but he was not allowed to buy a handgun because he was under 21 at the time.

Nunez has pleaded guilty along with three co-defendants and is serving a 25-year prison term.

Initiative 594, sponsored by gun control backers, aimed to close the so-called “gun show loophole” and require a federal background check for private gun sales and transfers. Previously, only sales by gun dealers required a background check in Washington.

Opponents called the background check requirement an infringement on the rights of law-abiding gun owners and buyers.

Supporters of the law said it has stopped about 100 prohibited gun sales since taking effect.