Washington

Confirmed directly from the official Washington State Legislature site: RCW §9.41.050 requires a Concealed Pistol License only for carrying 'concealed'; open carry of a pistol is not licensed under this statute. Some local/state-building-specific restrictions apply (e.g., near the Capitol).

Washington has no statute prohibiting firearms in places of worship; carry there is a property-owner decision.

RCW 9.41.300(1)(d), confirmed directly from Washington's official code site: firearms are barred only in "that portion of an establishment classified by the state liquor and cannabis board as off-limits to persons under 21 years of age" — i.e., a roped-off 21+ bar area. Notably, unlike the library/zoo/transit exceptions in the same statute, there is no express carve-out for concealed pistol license holders in that specific bar-area clause, so CPL holders are barred from that 21+ section too — but the general (all-ages) dining room of a restaurant is untouched by this provision.

RCW 9.41.300(1)(a)-(h) lists no boat or waterway, so ordinary private or recreational boating is not among the statute's restricted places. Since 2024 (2SSB 5444, 2024 c 285) the list includes library premises, zoo and aquarium premises, and transit stations and facilities, but RCW 9.41.300(14) exempts a person licensed under RCW 9.41.070 from those three. Washington State Ferries is named a transit authority in RCW 9.91.025(2)(c), and its passenger facilities and properties are a transit facility under RCW 9.91.025(2)(a), so a ferry terminal is within the (1)(h) ban, subject to the exemptions in RCW 9.41.300(7), (8), (13), and (14). A ferry boat that a transit authority (or an entity serving on its behalf) owns or operates to carry passengers on a regular schedule is a 'transit vehicle' (RCW 9.91.025(2)(b)), and RCW 9.41.300(1)(h) says transit stations and facilities do not include transit vehicles, so the vessel itself is not a listed place. The (14) exemption is worded for RCW 9.41.070 licensees; RCW 9.41.073(1)(b) requires out-of-state permit holders to carry in compliance with Washington law, and neither section says whether the exemption reaches them, so whether a non-resident permit holder may pass through a ferry terminal to board is unsettled.

RCW 9.41.300(1)(b) bans weapons in 'areas ... used in connection with court proceedings' (courtrooms, jury rooms, judge's chambers, offices/areas used to conduct court business) — and the CPL exemption in subsection (14) covers only libraries, zoos/aquariums, and transit facilities, NOT courts, so CPL holders are not exempt from the court-area ban. Subsection (3) separately lets a county or city restrict firearms in its OWN buildings by rule if notice is posted, meaning an ordinary DMV or city hall is off-limits only if that specific local government has adopted and posted such a restriction — not by default statewide.

No Washington statute directly bans campus carry, but WAC 478-124-020 and equivalent rules at every public four-year university prohibit concealed firearms on campus without prior written approval of the university police chief or the president's designee — an opt-in-only regime. Private institutions set their own policy.

Directly checked RCW 9.41.300 (Washington's statutory list of restricted locations for concealed pistol licensees — courthouses, jails, mental-health facilities, etc.). It is silent on ordinary private businesses open to the public, meaning there is no state-mandated opt-in; a property owner may exclude a licensee only through its own posted notice/policy, and carry is presumptively lawful absent that notice.

Verified directly from the official Washington statute: RCW 9.41.300's list of prohibited locations is an enumerated 'sensitive places' list (jails, courts, mental-health facilities, schools' liquor areas, airports, libraries, zoos, transit) with NO private-property consent requirement of any kind. Default governed by general trespass law.

RCW 9.41.300, read directly from the official Washington State Legislature site, restricts weapons only in 'the restricted access areas of a commercial service airport... including passenger screening checkpoints at or beyond the point at which a passenger initiates the screening process,' and expressly states those restricted areas 'do not include airport drives, general parking areas and walkways, and shops and areas of the terminal that are outside the screening checkpoints and that are normally open to unscreened passengers or visitors to the airport.' This is one of the most explicit statutory confirmations found in this research.

Washington requires a Concealed Pistol License (CPL) to carry a LOADED, concealed handgun in a vehicle, and even then only if the handgun is on the licensee's person, the licensee stays in the vehicle, or (if they leave) the gun is locked in the vehicle out of view (RCW §9.41.050(2)(a)). Without a CPL, persons 18+ may still store an UNLOADED handgun in a vehicle if it's locked and concealed from outside view (RCW §9.41.050(3)(a)). Loaded rifles/shotguns in a vehicle are separately banned outright.

Wash. Rev. Code §9.41.300(1) restricts firearms only in 'restricted access areas of a public mental health facility certified by DSHS for inpatient hospital care' — general hospitals and ERs are not statutorily restricted, but that specific category of public psychiatric inpatient facility is.

Washington requires a concealed pistol license. RCW §9.41.050(2)(a) expressly authorizes a licensee to carry a loaded handgun in a vehicle (on person, or locked/concealed when away from the vehicle); prohibited locations (courts, mental-health facilities, secured airport areas, corrections, etc.) do not include rest areas, and no new sensitive-places law affecting this was found as of my research. Sourced via NRA-ILA quoting the RCW directly.

No Washington statute found imposing a duty to inform law enforcement of a concealed pistol license during a stop (reviewed against Wash. Rev. Code §§ 9.41.050, 9.41.070 as cited in the source).

RCW 9.41.070(1): the license "shall" be issued to "any person" who applies, with no residency requirement in the eligibility criteria — the statute only gives the issuing sheriff/chief extra processing time (60 vs. 30 days) if the applicant lacks a Washington driver's license/ID or has been a resident less than 90 days, confirming non-residents are eligible. Apply in person at any local Washington law enforcement agency.

RCW 9.41.280(1)(a) bans carrying/possessing a firearm on K-12 premises; the concealed pistol license (CPL) exception is limited to possession while picking up or dropping off a student (implicitly a vehicle-based, brief-presence exception) — not general campus carry.

Chapter 9.41 RCW has no provision addressing a private business's 'no firearms' sign; its posting requirements, such as RCW 9.41.284(5) and 9.41.300(6), apply to the statutory restricted places. A posted sign at a private business is therefore a trespass question. RCW 9A.52.010(2) treats a person as entering or remaining unlawfully when not licensed, invited, or otherwise privileged, and gives posted-notice rules only for unimproved and apparently unused land, agricultural or aquaculture land, and land open to the public only at particular times; RCW 9A.52.070 and 9A.52.080 punish knowingly entering or remaining unlawfully in a building or in or upon the premises of another. RCW 9A.52.090(2) is a defense for a person on premises open to the public who complied with all lawful conditions imposed on access to or remaining in the premises. The statutes do not say whether a posted no-firearms sign is such a condition, or whether the owner must also personally ask the carrier to leave, so how a sign alone is treated is unsettled.

RCW 9.41.290: the state "fully occupies and preempts the entire field of firearms regulation." Local governments may only regulate discharge, firearms in municipal stadiums/convention centers (with an exception for CPL holders), and firearms-dealer zoning. Note: the WA Supreme Court in Watson v. City of Seattle, 189 Wash.2d 149 (2017), upheld Seattle's firearm/ammunition TAX as distinct from "regulation," so taxation is a narrow area where a city has succeeded despite preemption.

RCW 9.41.284(1) bars firearms and the other listed weapons in a ballot counting center, voting center, student engagement hub, or county elections and voter registration office, including areas of a facility while it is used as one. Subsection (4) allows a person licensed under RCW 9.41.070 to carry a concealed pistol in a voting center, student engagement hub, or county elections and voter registration office, or an area of a facility while it is used as one, but no restricted weapon, concealed or open, may be possessed in a ballot counting center or in areas of a facility while it is used as a ballot counting center. Subsection (3) exempts law enforcement officers and security personnel hired by a county for election security; apart from those exemptions, open carry is barred in all of these places. A first violation is a misdemeanor and later ones are gross misdemeanors, and a conviction under subsection (1)(a) revokes a concealed pistol license for three years and bars reapplying during that time (subsection (2)). Subsection (4) is worded for RCW 9.41.070 licensees; RCW 9.41.073(1)(b) requires out-of-state permit holders to carry in compliance with Washington law, and neither section says whether subsection (4) reaches them. Enacted by ESHB 1630 (2022 c 106), effective June 9, 2022.

RCW 9.41.370(1) bars manufacturing, importing, distributing, selling, or offering for sale a large capacity magazine, defined in RCW 9.41.010 as one that can accept more than 10 rounds (excluding permanently altered devices, .22 caliber tube devices, and tubular magazines in lever-action firearms); possessing one is not among the barred acts, and a violation is a gross misdemeanor (RCW 9.41.370(3)). RCW 9.41.010 defines 'import' as moving an item into Washington from outside the state, and its only carve-out is for a person returning to Washington with the same magazine they took out; neither section lists an exemption for visitors. The Washington Supreme Court upheld the law on May 8, 2025 in State v. Gator's Custom Guns, Inc., No. 102940-3, holding that large capacity magazines are not 'arms' under article I, section 24 of the state constitution or the Second Amendment. A petition for certiorari (U.S. No. 25-153) is pending; the U.S. Supreme Court docket shows no ruling on it.

Extreme Risk Protection Order, originally enacted by voter initiative I-1491 (2016) as RCW 7.94; consolidated effective July 1, 2022 into RCW 7.105 (Washington's unified protection-order statute). Petitioners: family/household members and law enforcement officers/agencies.

Genuinely varies by category. Suppressors: legal under RCW 9.41.250's exception for suppressors legally registered and possessed in accordance with federal law — no added WA license, though use while hunting is separately barred. SBR/SBS: RCW 9.41.190(1) bans by default, but (2) creates an explicit carve-out for compliance with federal law; note WA's 2023 'assault weapon' ban defines 'assault weapon' more broadly than the federal SBR threshold, so a dealer SALE of a semi-auto SBR meeting that definition can still be blocked, though building one yourself (Form 1) or inheriting one remains open. Machine guns: RCW 9.41.190(1) bans possession, and the only affirmative defense (subsection 4) covers guns acquired prior to July 1, 1994 — ATF will not process a NEW transfer of any machine gun into Washington State since that date, so a WA resident cannot lawfully acquire a machine gun today even with full federal NFA compliance; only already-grandfathered pre-1994 owners may possess one.

No SYG statute; case law (State v. Studd, 137 Wn.2d 533, 973 P.2d 1049 (1999); State v. Redmond, 150 Wn.2d 489 (2003); State v. Allery, 101 Wash. 2d 591, 682 P.2d 312 (1984)) establishes no duty to retreat when lawfully present.

Rev. Code Wash. § 9.41.113 (Initiative 594, 2014) requires virtually all firearm transfers -- including gifts and loans, not just sales -- to be processed through a licensed dealer for a background check. Exceptions for immediate family gifts/bequests, antiques, and brief transfers for hunting, sporting, or self-defense.

RCW 9.41.250 exempts a firearm suppressor 'legally registered and possessed in accordance with federal law' from the general prohibition on sound-suppressing devices — no additional state permit required, and suppressor hunting has been legal in Washington since 2011.

RCW 9.41.190 bans machine gun possession for civilians outright unless it 'was acquired prior to July 1, 1994, and is possessed in compliance with federal law' — a narrow grandfather clause that effectively forecloses lawful possession for anyone who acquired (or would acquire) the gun after that date, regardless of federal NFA registration.

RCW 9.41.190(2) separately permits a short-barreled rifle 'if the person is in compliance with applicable federal law,' with no 1994 acquisition cutoff — unlike the treatment of machine guns and short-barreled shotguns in the very same statute.

RCW 9.41.190 bans short-barreled shotgun possession for civilians outright unless it 'was acquired prior to July 1, 1994, and is possessed in compliance with federal law' — the same narrow grandfather clause that applies to machine guns.

No Washington statute addressing destructive devices or AOWs turned up in RCW 9.41 (Firearms and Dangerous Weapons); I could not confirm a state-level restriction, or its absence, either way.