Monday, December 2, 2024

Gun buyer background checks restart as WA courts’ online systems are running again

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Washington State Standard

OLYMPIA - Most of Washington state courts’ computer systems are up and running again following a two-week shutdown that disrupted operations in local courts and halted processing of thousands of firearm background checks.

The Administrative Office of the Courts restored networks, databases and the Washington Courts website throughout the weekend. Online access to the Blake Refund Bureau, the appellate court document portal and e-filing for appellate courts were still unavailable as of midday on Monday.

 A release issued Monday said a “forensic analysis” is continuing but security experts determined the office “has taken all steps necessary at this time to secure systems” and the unauthorized activity detected at the start of the month “has been eliminated.”

The release did not detail the nature of the unauthorized activity first announced by the Administrative Office of the Courts on Nov. 4.

“We can confirm that there was no detected breach of data and the event did not result in ransomware, due to quick action taken to isolate and secure the network,” according to the release. It said a “post-event” release will be shared after the Dec. 6 meeting of the state’s Judicial Information System Committee.

As a result of the shutdown, the state Department of Children, Youth and Families, and the Washington State Gambling Commission were slowed in their ability to complete background checks for prospective employees. 

Meanwhile, with the outage ending, the Washington State Patrol restarted processing of firearm background checks.

Chris Loftis, a Washington State Patrol spokesperson, said the agency’s Secure Automated Firearms E-Check system was reconnected to the state court system as of 1 p.m. on Sunday. It had been unavailable since Nov. 1.

Staff completed over 6,500 of the delayed checks in the first 8 hours after the system came back online, he said. 

They will take this next week “to get caught up and it will take a while to navigate all outstanding checks, but we will work them as quickly as we safely and accurately can,” Loftis said. “We will have final numbers and a timeline as soon as those have been calculated.”

Last week, the Second Amendment Foundation in Bellevue threatened legal action if the delay in conducting firearm background checks persisted.

State law imposes a 10-day waiting period following a purchase to allow time for those checks. Making buyers who would pass the reviews wait longer violates their constitutional rights, said Dave Workman, editor-in-chief of The Gun Mag, a foundation publication.

The Second Amendment Foundation hadn’t decided as of Monday morning whether to sue, Workman said. Firearm dealers and gun owners he’s spoken to “want to make damn sure this never happens again,” he said.

“If that takes legal action, I suspect that might happen,” he said. “This isn’t about guns. This is about rights. You simply can’t put somebody’s constitutional rights on hold.”

Washington State Standard (www.washingtonstatestandard.com) is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.

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