(Seattle, WA) – Today, KIRO7 reported the case of Michael Ahmed Hicks, a convicted felon who was arrested and charged after attempting to obtain a gun online from GrabAGun.com, a Texas website.

According to the report, Hicks, who was prohibited from possessing firearms because of a 2006 drug conviction, ordered the gun online and had it shipped to a Washington State federally-licensed firearms dealer. When Hicks went to the licensed dealer to pay for the weapon and collect it, the dealer conducted the background checks required on pistol sales in Washington State. These included the federal NICS check and local law enforcement checks, conducted in this case by the Seattle Police Department.

As KIRO7 reported:

When the Seattle Police Department’s Records Unit ran the background check, Hicks’ criminal history was revealed. Last week, Hicks was arrested before he could pose “grave danger to public safety,” according to the Seattle Police detective who worked the case.

…

“The safeguards put into place were followed by all the right people and as a result, a person who shouldn’t have a gun didn’t get it, and he’s now being charged with an additional felony for trying to do so,” Seattle Police spokesman Detective Drew Fowler said on Monday.

Under current Washington State law Hicks, or criminals like him, can evade this background check by obtaining a gun at a gun show or in an in-person sale arranged online, with no questions asked. A recent investigation by Everytown for Gun Safety found over 40,000 guns available online annually, nearly 10% of which could find their way into the hands of criminals. Initiative 594 closes a dangerous loophole in our law by applying the background check system that helped keep this gun out of Michael Hicks’ hands to all gun sales in our state.