Previously, when a prospective gun buyer went to a dealer, the dealer collected their information and, for some guns, sent it directly to the FBI for a background check. For other guns, the dealer sent the information, by email or fax, to the police department where the buyer lives, for a background check.

Now, dealers send information for all background checks to the Washington State Patrol, through a secure online portal.

Washington conducts "enhanced background checks," meaning the State Patrol runs each background check on at least five databases: the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System, the state administrative office of the courts, the state Health Care Authority (looking for involuntary mental health commitments), a state law enforcement database (looking for warrants and protection orders), and a Northwest regional database (looking for recent arrests in nearby states).

A hit on any of them for past felonies, domestic violence convictions, involuntary commitment, protection orders or other offenses can prompt a denial.

"If you can have a firearm, you can have a firearm, I'm OK with that," said Kateri Candee, the commander of the State Patrol's Firearms Background Division. "But if you shouldn't have a firearm because you have some stuff in your background, I don't want you to have a firearm."

The mandatory training before a gun purchase, which went into effect this year, may or may not be affecting sales, but it is not a difficult hurdle to clear.

Training is available online and is either free or available for minimal cost. One training option — near the top of online search results — can be completed in under five minutes.

Offered by a Vancouver gun shop, it features, as required by state law, information on basic gun safety, guns and children, safe gun storage, guns and suicide, state laws on using deadly force and conflict resolution.

It also includes information on protecting the Second Amendment, introducing new people to firearms, talking with "anti-gun citizens," fundraising requests and pleas to "vote against anti-gun candidates."

Of the 12 pages you need to click through to complete the training, seven are largely instruction and five are largely advocacy.

Once the training is complete, you can print a certificate attesting that you've met the requirements of the new law.

State Rep. Liz Berry, D-Seattle, lead sponsor of the law that required the trainings, laughed at some of the embedded advocacy.

"The trainings are really easy to access, they're not hard or cumbersome to do," Berry said. "Lower gun sales is not a bad thing unless you're a gun manufacturer or a gun dealer. We have more guns on the street in this country than we have Americans — it seems like there's no shortage of guns."

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