[JURIST] Ballot measures in both Washington and Alabama [texts] passed in Tuesday’s midterm elections, altering the states’ gun laws. Washington Initiative 594, a measure requiring background checks for all gun purchases, passed [election results] with more than 59 percent of the vote. This new law will alter the state’s existing practice of requiring background checks only for sales from licensed vendors. Washington voters rejected [election results] the contradictory Initiative 591 [text], which would have prohibited the federal government from requiring state-level background checks for gun owners until a nationwide standard has been established. Meanwhile, Alabama passed Amendment 3 with over 72 percent of the vote. The measure states “that every citizen has a fundamental right to bear arms and that any restriction of this right would be subject to strict scrutiny.”

Second Amendment rights are a hotly contested [JURIST op-ed] political issue in the US. In August a judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of California ruled [JURIST report] that a California gun law that requires a 10-day waiting period for gun purchases cannot be applied to those who already own firearms. In June a judge for the US District Court for the District of Colorado upheld two state statutes [JURIST report] that expanded mandatory background checks and banned high capacity magazines. Also in June the US Supreme Court ruled that the government can enforce a ban [JURIST report] on purchasing a gun for someone else, even if that other person is lawfully allowed to have a gun. In April a trial judge for the Supreme Court of New York dismissed a lawsuit [JURIST report] challenging the state’s strict gun laws. In February the Supreme Court denied review [JURIST report] of three gun rights cases without comment.