Lacey ends free screenings for gun store employees 

The City of Lacey is no longer covering state-mandated background checks for gun store workers. 

On Tuesday, Jan. 20, the Lacey City Council voted unanimously to adopt Resolution 1179. It imposes a $21 fee on firearm dealer employees and raises the police department's fingerprint processing fee to $15 from $13. Both changes took effect immediately. 

The resolution addresses a funding gap created by Revised Code of Washington 9.41.110(5)(b), effective July 1, 2025. 

The state law requires all employees of firearm dealers to undergo fingerprint-based background checks before selling or transferring firearms. Annual rechecks are mandatory. Previously, only a licensed dealer faced the requirement. 

Since July 2025, the Lacey Police Department has processed six employee background checks for firearm dealers.

Lacey, to date, has eight licensed firearm dealers — Cabela's, Big 5 Sporting Goods, pawn shops and secondhand dealers among them. Yet, police cannot track how many employees work at each location or how often staff turns over. 

Lacey Police Chief Robert Almada told the council the department's budget line item covering these costs is exhausted. 

"We can't continue subsidizing this new burden that's been put on us by the (Washington State) Legislature," Almada said. "It is only reasonable to pass that along to the people using that service." 

Washington State Patrol (WSP) invoices Lacey $21 for each electronically submitted fingerprint background check. The city had been paying that amount without reimbursement.  

City Manager Rick Walk warned the workload will grow to "exponential volume" as gun stores rush to comply. 

"You're going to see that spike in activity, and we need to be able to recover some of that cost," Walk said. 

For each screening, staffers run a Federal Bureau of Investigation’s check, a Healthcare Authority review and other local record searches to verify eligibility, Police Records Supervisor Anna McBee explained. 

As for dealer fees, gun stores holding state licenses pay a $125 fee to the Washington State Department of Licensing. That amount includes the $21 WSP processing fee for the licensee. All $125 goes to the Washington State Treasury. Lacey sees none of the money despite processing, reviewing and ruling on applications, McBee said. 

Gun store workers are not the only ones who pay the $15 fingerprint fee, it also applies to anyone seeking prints from the department.

The previous rate had not increased in several years. Lacey's new rate matches the Thurston County Sheriff's Office, while WSP charges $16. 

The resolution builds in annual increases for the fingerprint fee starting on July 1, 2027. The increases are going to help track cost-of-living adjustments in the city's contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the union representing Lacey Police Department employees. 

If no contract exists by June 1, the increase is going to follow the Seattle/Tacoma/Bellevue Consumer Price Index from the first half of the prior year. The $21 background check fee carries no such escalation clause.