I’m moving to Seattle in a few days and I’m bring my handgun. I’ve already arranged to transport it on the plane legally with me. But I’m wondering now if I will need some kind of permit just to have it in my posession or in my house in Seattle. (I will be within city limits) I know cities are usually more strict on these things, and West Coast cities are notorious for it. My question is twofold, then:
1- Will I need any kind of permit just have a gun in my house when I get to Seattle? What about transporting it from the airport?
2- Is there any place I can research this on the web?
I don’t live in the city of Seattle proper but I do live in King County. And I don’t own any guns but my father owns a couple of hunting rifles and lives here too.
Now (if I haven’t disqualified myself already), I’m 99% certain there are no special gun laws within the city of Seattle. There are certainly none for King County. The usual prohibitions against discharging a firearm, behaving recklessly, etc., etc., are in place but you don’t need a permit just to own and/or store a rifle or a handgun. They do have a zero-tolerance policy for guns on school property, even toy guns, but I’m assuming that’s not an issue.
Hand grenades, bazookas and small- to medium-bore artillery – I don’t think they’re allowed. Nuclear weapons are strictly prohibited and ground-to-air missiles like the Stinger are frowned upon because of all the planes Boeing builds.
Careful. That’s a good site, but a little out of date. I looked up Wisconsins laws on it and it was missing some of the newer laws that were recently passed, like the addition of the right to bear arms in our state constitution.
My advice to Lizard is, call the city police department and ask them. Talk to the shift commander. DO NOT TALK TO A DISPATCHER!!! Dispatchers are usually civillians, not sworn/trained cops. Talk to someone who actually enforces the law. If the person you talk to says “I THINK the law is…” ask to talk to someone else. Someone who can say “I KNOW the law is…”.
Sorry if this sounds like a lecture, but I want to help you stay out of trouble. If you ask me, there should only be one gun law on the books everywhere: The Second Amendment!!
From the BATF publication “State Laws and Published Ordinances - Firearms, 2000 - 22nd edition”
The state of Washington … preempts the entire field of firearms regulation … including the registration, licensing, possession …
It does allow local restriction on where guns may be fired, sold, etc.
So there will not be local restrictions on possession.
This publication is aimed at firearms dealers so it does not directly address possesion by an individual. It does not require a dealer to check your state license so I assume a license to possess a gun is not required.
For concealed carry, Washington is a “shall issue” state. You will be issued a permit as long as you meet all of the state requirements.