Bill would change sentencing for unlawful firearm possession

Published 1:30 am Saturday, February 28, 2026

By Cassie Diamond

WA State Journal

The House Community Safety Committee held a public hearing for a Senate bill mandating one year of community custody for unlawful firearm possession on Feb. 18.

Community custody is the portion of a person’s criminal sentence in which they are released back into the community under the supervision of the Department of Corrections.

Under current law, courts are required to impose one year community custody on people convicted of unlawfully possessing firearms only if that person is a criminal street gang member or associate.

Senate Bill 5268 would instead require courts to sentence any person guilty of an offense involving the unlawful possession of a firearm to one year of community custody, regardless of street gang affiliation.

Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro Woolley, the prime sponsor, explained that not all unlawful possession cases result in prosecution or penalty, something this policy seeks to address.

“It’s kind of hard to prove somebody’s a gang member or not, and, actually, I think that is irrelevant,” he said. “People who possess a gun unlawfully are up to no good. They’re not out to be a marksman or have this as a hobby.”

Wagoner added that community custody has been shown to have positive effects on offenders and should be “the bare minimum measure” to impose on people with unlawful access to firearms.

James McMahan, policy director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, supported the bill.

“Oftentimes the only difference between unlawful possession of a firearm and offenses like murder, attempted murder, assault [in the first degree] and others is point and squeeze,” he said.

McMahan said community custody allows offenders to experience a longer re-entry transition back into society, which better supports their rehabilitation and holds them accountable. This, in turn, helps prevent the creation of future gun violence victims, he explained.

Keri-Anne Jetzer, coordinator for the Washington State Sentencing Guidelines Commission, said the agency supports the changes SB 5268 would make.

However, she said the Commission would like to see more specificity regarding when community supervision would be applied in cases of unlawful firearm possession, as the offense can be related to many non-violent, low-level crimes.

Jetzer noted that research shows issuing intensive community supervision to low-risk individuals can result in worse outcomes. She suggested that community custody instead be applied on an individual basis related to a person’s criminal history.

The bill was previously passed unanimously out of the Senate during last year’s legislative session, but stalled after being passed out of the House Community Safety Committee.

The measure once again passed off the Senate floor with unanimous support this year. It is now scheduled for an executive session on Feb. 19.

Asked whether the proposed policy could be implemented, McMahan said the state has “significantly underfunded” DOC’s supervision resources “for quite some time.”

“At the end of the day, we think this is important enough, and the Legislature is spending an $80 billion budget,” he said. “We think there should be enough resources to do public safety things.”

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