A vague definition of what constitutes a “firearm” in the Initiative 594 background check law led Bremerton resident Robert Parker to wonder if such checks would be required for the sale of nail guns, flare guns or fireworks.

I-594 defines a firearm as “a weapon or device from which a projectile or projectiles may be fired by an explosive such as gunpowder.”

Parker said that because his nail gun used .22 caliber blanks to drive nails, it seemed to him to meet the definition of “firearm.” The vagueness of the phrasing bothered him.

Parker put the question to the Bremerton City Council recently during a public comment period at their Dec. 3 meeting. He brought an unloaded nail gun with him and placed it atop the lectern. By chance, the barrel happened to point toward the council.

“Mr. Parker you have that pointed right at me,” said council president Greg Wheeler.

“I’m sorry,” Parker, surprised, said as he repositioned the tool. “I’ll point it at me.”

“The first level (violation of I-594) is a gross misdemeanor which is covered by the city, not the county. It becomes important to us to know if our people that are working in construction that may have a felony, if they start transferring these around are they going to be arrested or charged?

“Nobody has really answered that question yet and I think maybe it’s important that we start addressing it,” Parker said.

“It sounds like I’m playing a game on them but I’m not,” Parker said later. “Eventually I think this is all going to end up in court.”

Roger Lubovich, Bremerton city attorney said his office had not researched the issue yet.

“We haven’t gotten there yet so that’s an interesting issue,” Lubovich said.

“Obviously, I don’t think that was the intent with the initiative,” he said.

Kitsap County Sheriff’s Deputy Scott Wilson said he’s “heard that same rumbling” about the literal definition of “firearm” in I-594. Wilson said the sheriff’s office would take a common sense approach to the definition.

Deputies would not stand outside hardware stores and do background checks on contractors purchasing nail guns, for example.

“That’s not going to be the case,” Wilson said.

“It’s just one of those situations where we’re going to wait for a more detailed definition that may come from the courts on this,” he said.

Web pages for both the Washington Department of Licensing and the Washington State Office of the Attorney General both defer to local law enforcement and prosecutors on how to enforce firearms laws.

I-594 did not change the definition of firearm, but re-used a definition elsewhere in the Revised Code of Washington.