Record keeping: More bureaucracy is problem, not answer

No arrests or convictions resulted the year following I-594 becoming law. Two years out, The Spokane Spokesman Review reported that gun sale records haven’t been updated since voters approved I-594.

I’ll bet the gun sale records are sitting on some dusty shelf in Olympia right next to the 6000 rape kits they don’t have the resources to pursue either. The Spokane paper goes as far as to threaten another initiative if funding isn’t allocated immediately.

The State hasn’t been able to accomplish the very task I-594 was created to do, how on earth would creating more bureaucracy solve the problem? We have no money for schools, and no money for infrastructure, but we’ll allow out-of-state interests to keep handing us rocks while we’re trying to keep our fiscal head above water.

In today’s world of rampant identification theft, why would we allow the Department of Labor to outsource the responsibility for the I-594 records? Having our most sensitive data entrusted to the lowest bidder sets a terrible precedent. Why do we need the DOL (or IRS for that matter) if a vendor can legally do the same work cheaper?

This story was originally published January 22, 2017 at 6:34 PM with the headline "Record keeping: More bureaucracy is problem, not answer."