Had to take a firearms safety course when I got my Florida concealed carry permit. For Washington, it wasn't necessary. Nevertheless, I do agree that classes in markmanship and defensive shooting are essential. Teddy Roosevelt even believed that they were an essential part of anyone's education.
Unfortunatly, in my home state of New York, the attitude is "we need to get the guns out of the hands of the dangerous minorities from the boroughs, and only the cops can protect us." It never crosses their little minds that they have a right to defend themselves. Only serves to prove my belief that, in terms of weltenschang. NYers are the most European people in the US.
Illinois (of all places) removes the ambiguity about the 2d by including in its constitution the provision that every able-bodied person is a member of the militia. Lots of good that does us here. I came to Chicago from a small Arkansas town and guns were as much a part of daily life as breathing they were around me all the time in trucks, over fireplace mantels, standing next to grandma's bed etc.
I like 'em.
Firearms training SHOULD be part of the education curriculum we had rifle clubs in high school. It is because of the excessive fear that people with no experience have of firearms that many of these laws can be passed. State certification should not be mandatory either but groups like the NRA should be allowed to provide that.
It is remarkable that Washington has not tightened its gun laws given the liberal control there.