In a remarkable reversal of a long-standing trend, the number of active concealed pistol licenses in Washington State has dropped by 11,000 over the past four months, a fact that might (should) be alarming to gun rights groups. However, it may also suggest a return of lethargy in the firearms community. However, with the barrage of assaults on Second Amendment that seems very unlikely, which begs the question of “Why?” By Dave Workman 
The news comes as Evergreen State gun rights activists are planning two events in Olympia, one week apart. There’s an April 14 event running 5:30–8:30 p.m., organized by the National Constitutional Coalition of Patriotic Americans, and on April 21, noon–3 p.m. there’s a “March For Our Rights” rally. Both of these events will be held on the Capitol steps.
At the end of November 2017, the Department of Licensing reported to Liberty Park Press that there were 591,366 active CPLs. Monday morning, the agency advised the number had dropped to 580,362 active licenses.
Since January 2, 2013—when the number of active CPLs hit 392,784—there has been a steady increase in the interest for acquiring a license to carry a concealed handgun, with but a few dips from month-to-month.
Washington has one of the more user—and constitution—friendly concealed carry laws, a “shall issue” provision that enables any qualified citizen to obtain a license to carry.
Article 1, Section 24 of the state constitution, adopted in November 1889, states, “The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself, or the state, shall not be impaired, but nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing individuals or corporations to organize, maintain or employ an armed body of men.” In 1912, when Arizona joined the Union, its constitution adopted the same language. All but six other states have right-to-bear-arms provisions in their constitutions, and they appear to all be stronger than the wording of the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment was incorporated to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment in the 2010 Supreme Court ruling in McDonald v. City of Chicago, a case brought by the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation.
Some members of the WaGuns.org forum have suggested that perhaps the state’s concealed carry interest reached the point of saturation. Others hinted that with taxes rising in many areas, people have had to choose between paying taxes or renewing their carry licenses. A few gun owners have suggested a number of reasons, including people who have died or moved out of the state.
The most dramatic decreases have come in King and Pierce counties, with more gradual declines in Snohomish, Clark, and Whatcom counties. The remaining counties all show smaller declines.
One other contributing factor might be harder to pin down. That’s the possible sense of safety from gun control with Donald Trump in the White House and Republicans in control of Congress. However, that hasn’t prevented the launching of a gun ban initiative in Oregon, and it would not stop one from being filed in Washington, as has been hinted earlier this year.
People don’t want the socialists to know what they have.
As mentioned we have a preexisting constitutional right to bear arms and it may be that many have begun to wake up to the fact, especially as many states move to constitutional carry. People in Washington may be feeling that we shouldn’t have to renew or have a permit to carry. Many also feel that a cpl is a disguised form of registration and are feeling less trusting of Washington’s liberal government and have said screw that and are not renewing.
I’ve had mine since it was a CWP (concealed weapon permit). I think the main reason for any decrease is the mentality of our elected “leaders”. Tax the bottomless reserves of the public and tell you just what is good for us without listening to what is being said. I’m getting ready to retire and I WILL be moving out of this state that I used to love.
My guess is it has more to do with marijuana than anything else. If you look at the Washington state permit application – the dreaded weed questions pops up at #5. My guess is that most folks are still carrying concealed, they are no longer renewing their permit since the state legalized marijuana to avoid answering the question.
Perhaps another reason is that the WA CPL isn’t recognized in a lot of other states, while a CPL from Utah is nearly universal, and is recognized in WA. A decent firearms training course will get you qualified for both Utah and Oregon.
Be nice if people would stop running, get their nutsacks back, and say screw the 2nd Amendment.
How did pre Articles of Confederation and later newer Constitution people’s decide to shoot those damn redcoats?
Did they go ask for a permit, pay a fee, taxes on guns and ammo?
A careful reading of our Hstory pre outbreak of hostilities listed a hell of a lot of grievances but not being allowed a weapon was not one of them.
IT was only after a force of arms and the rampant abuses far worse than Britains by Charter member states Confederation did the populace approve of Owning firearms was a necessity did it become a Right.
But it was a minor point, there was a hell of a lot more involved in Constitutional Documents that somehow got thrown by wayside since then.
The 2nd was “Not supposed, but was intended to protect each and every restrictions upon Central Government, and those foreign or domestic assholes from going beyond its vested powers.
NOT A “convenient responsability”, but a duty.
Tired of all this , well just move personal or corporate to another state mentality, how convenient an excuse that allows the 2nd get butchered, and absolves all the rest of gun owners to mot do a f’n thing about its demise.
We give those control freaks every victory,; why?
Oh we await those blue Helmets and clove goofed UN, Arabs, Mexicans, BLACKS to invade our freedoms.
It is men and women dressed like you and I, who are using the State powers they should never of gained from acting outside Constitutional limits, they are taking a chunk of metal, right, not taking and controlling your right.
Gun owners talk tough, love waving flags, but do not have the balls to face up to reality US is not a democratic representative government and the Constitution no more than a Korea to hide behind, freedoms bleed out.
I have to agree with many of the comments here, and think the explanation is a combination of all of the above: rising taxes; ever loonier liberal politicians in Olympia, Seattle, and King county; population shift; and a reprieve from “So-and-so is going to take your guns away!” Let’s face it, all that was mainly an excuse to drive up the cost of guns and ammo.
I live in Snohomish county. A CPL here costs $48 for 5 years, with a renewal of $32. I have one mainly for ease of firearms purchase. Last time, I was in and out of the gun shop in 40 minutes. I don’t carry all the time, as someone mentioned, there are several restrictions as to where you cannot enter with one.
I gave up after realizing the time and effort required to get one. They are simply regulating us out.
I moved to King County in 1987 lived and worked there for 30 years and I finally got sick of all the overwhelmeing tax,s and add on,s for Seattle and the city dwellers that I moved back to the more even thinking Midwest . When 2 counties can vote Yes and the rest of the state votes no and it carries it was time for me to pack up and leave. I made my money and now I spend it in a away I choose not some special group chooses for me.Loved the state hated the people.
Thank you for pointing out the improper use of “begs the question”. It is NOT the same as “raises the question”! It especially drives me nuts when journalists can’t get it right.
I would be curious what the numbers look like here in Oregon. I’ve had my CCL license for almost 20 years. Our state government looks to be headed the way of the PRK (People’s Republik of Kalifornia) with more restrictions on gun rights. I hope voting Oregonians don’t allow it.
Pure stupidity, if you think more anti gun laws will keep you safe, take a look at Chicago. Chicago has so many gun laws on the books, but they have more shootings than most major cities in America. Law abiding gun owners are not the ones involved in these shootings. Criminals don’t give a damn about all of your feel good gun laws, they don’t follow the law.
I think there is a reduction in CCP licenses because people are leaving the state, just like in California, to get away from the progressive jerks that have taken over the state government.
I’m in Spokane and been thinking about getting mine. This article makes me want to get mine asap! 30 days wtf?
A CCL is the same as gun registration!
Not really. It is people registration (they figure you have at least one handgun), but they won’t know how many you have or their serial numbers. So you need to hide them well, especially anything bought before I594. It was I594 that created gun registration since that removed the ability to sell person-to-person without involving a dealer (any handguns that passes through a dealer in WA must be registered with the state), and so must handguns passed down from deceased people.
I have a strong tendency to agree with you. I’ve purchased only three firearms in the past 5 years. The remainder of my firearms were purchased over 40 years ago. I don’t want to be susceptible to confiscation of anything more more than those three. Hence, I don’t think I’ll get a CCL. Don’t need one for home defense.
I can’t even read your article, because you open improperly with “begs the question”. A phrase that has nothing to do with raising a question, which is what you really mean. If you’re going to be an advocate for our rights, be professional.
Btw, I live in King County and renewed my CPL last month. Renewals are by appointment only, and it took a a few weeks to receive. The upside is they are now laminated cards. The clerk briefly mentioned that many people aren’t getting appointments in time to renew before they expire.
When I got my first CPL it cost $5.00 was good for 5 years and walk out the same day with it. After returning to Wa after many years I went to get one again it was now $50.00 and good for 3 yrs, and had to wait 30 days to get it. I do not know what the cost is now or the wait period is but bot could be a factor if the cost keeps going up.
It could be due in part to the anal nature of the liberals in the issuance of carry permits. We have a new sheriff in my county of NC that was appointed and is a liberal. He refused to reissue my permit and I haven’t even had a speeding ticket in 20 years. He dredged up a hospital stay from 40 years ago when I was in high school, said it was an involuntary commit( when it wasn’t), and refused to renew. I had a permit before, shoot competition, and have bought numerous firearms through the NICS procedure. If that was indeed the case I wouldn’t have had a CCP before, nor been able to purchase a firearm. Needless to say I’m appealing.
Unbelievable!! This sounds like a bad movie. All the best to you in your appeal with a great attorney!
Born and raised in western WA I moved in 2016 and at least half a dozen friends all moved to AZ where we don’t need carry permits. Homes are twice the square footage for half the price and property taxes are aprx 25% of WA state and it’s 92 degrees today WA it’s still raining. The real reason is that people are leaving WA in drives btw gas is 75 cents per gallon less
Many may have become “fed up” with the state requiring you to “pay for,” in BIG $$, some license to exercise your “God Given Right to Self-defense” by ANY appropriate means, ANYWHERE. That caveat the SCOTUS inserted in finding the “right of the people to be armed,” IN THEIR HOME is asinine on its face! No such “restriction” is noted in that dastardly 2nd amendment. As I told my Governor, if it makes our legislators feel all safe and warm knowing I have passed a BC and have a CCW license, great, although “the right of the people to keep and BEAR arms” is still infringed, rust don’t require me tp PAY for it!
Seattle…King Co….. is horrific leftist insanity and dominates the will of the rest of the state in politics. I am wondering if the testing or renewal for CC has become more strict recently.. Obviously some of the older people don’t renew. Perhaps they raised the CC fees. One thing is certain….you really need self defense in King co. Crime is bad there.
I just renewed my WA CPL in January. No change in requirements. Easy as could be.
They moved to Texas along with the rest of California!
Got my CPL with no problem. Then when I tried to purchase a pistol denied by NICS. How can I be legal and pass my background check to get my CPL and then not pass my background check for purchasing a pistol. Sounds like NICS is ignoring my appeal as well. NICS needs to be overhauled by Trump.
“dramatic decreases have come in King and Pierce counties, ” These are the counties around Seattle and Olympia. They have been overtaken by retired Californians and liberal tech-urban types. No mystery. Author should have done some research.
Many pepole now choose open carry rather than a CWP.
The value of a CPL went down when you could not walk into a buy a handgun and walk out the door. I guess you can if you have one and the background check comes back as proceed quickly, but I”m always delayed. I594 made it harder, as face-to-face transfers don’t exempt a CPL holder from doing a direct sale (you must use a FFL now to be legal). If the upcoming initiative passes which allows carry on school grounds with a CPL, that may pull the numbers back up. I still have my CPL so I can have a loaded handgun in the car if I want to.
Liberals are persistently aggressive to their causes. They like to accuse, slander, smear, blame and spread gossip about the character and integrity of the gun owners or any conservative…the conservatives spend their time defending themselves and trying to keep up a good image while the liberals then continue on with their goals. If the conservatives would expose the lies, use their vast monetary resources to blitze the media with truth, show the public the true character of the liberals, we may not be worried so much about losing the war. Why is it so difficult for the conservatives to expose the lies? Is there fear of offending someone? The liberals don’t care about destroying someone’s reputation with false accusations. The liberals can get a lawsuit against any group or person within minutes…how many lawsuits do the conservatives have pending against the liberals? The gun owner rich who have resources for buying media time and exposing the truth, need to spend some of that money now because after liberals get in power, they’ll just take it all anyway. Every government agency and person of influence in the gun issue needs to have their mailboxes flooded with snail mail, email, phone calls, messages….nonstop…
Because it’s their Constitutional right to carry without a permit. Criminals don’t need a permit so why do I?
Aging population may have a part impact oupon permits, that and a hunting culture going into a rapegalid decline, after all urban cowboys not city dwellers are more likely to own pistols.
While relatively easy to get a concealed permit the increase of past was due mainly to one factor, female applicants.
One person wrote defending WA open carry forgets to mention, that while legal does not mean unobstructed, and you damn well will be confronted by well armed and triggertime waiting police of municipal, county, state and even neighbors while doing so.
There is but one real means of determination of limits upon freedom you have to push against those boundaries imposed by government and social orders.
A concealed permit in an “OPEN CARRY CONSTITUTIONALY PROTECTED RIGHT STATE,” is a rejection of a Right, you surrendered it for a permit slip from your masters.
As A WA resident it has been disheartening to see Seattle and even Spokane dumb down to liberalism. In y 56 years a lot of changes. OC and CC are not one of those changes however. I believe like anything else it is apathy. Trump is now in and people are taking a “breather”. Not smart either but it happens. Now is a good time to buy and the wife and I are.
Money get’s tight and people spend on other things.
Fallacy of thought processes by some posters though, in which they state that the state knows you have a firearm, when the time comes for house to house they will go to all houses. Not skip ones where they have no record of 4473 or CCW. Won’t happen. Only way they would know that someone behind them is unarmed is to check.
Buy away and get what you want. If there were 40 million owners of AR15’s there is no way discuss turning them in. Case law would then allow for Cars, Boats, Baseball bats all to be turned in with no compensation.
When we finally ban private citizens from owning firearms without special license, we will not need house to house searches. We won’t need to search the houses of party members, as we know they will have to proper licenses. No, we will not only know which houses to seach, we will know which ones get no-knock searches, and which get the Waco treatement just from looking at at person’s social media accounts. The more some gun-nut ranted about Moron Lube, and talked about their cold, dead hands, the more likely someone will just drive a tank through their house, and search the wreckage to confiscate their guns.
The real reason is most likely that WA residents have discovered that a Utah permit is not only cheaper and easier to acquire, but also covers a greater number of states (including WA!). When I was applying for a WA permit several years ago, the county sheriff’s clerk I spoke to was the very person who encouraged me to apply for a Utah permit INSTEAD of a WA permit. Puzzle solved.
Or the sane are leaving the state.
I think most states will show a drop off of CCL permits as permits from whenever that states first big wave of permit issues was start to expire, and people don’t renew them. The biggest reason is that people will find out what I’ve known for 30 years: carry a concealed firearm is a PITA and takes commitment.
I’m in Illinois and we had some 300K permits issued the first year the law changed to allow CC. I bet almost half of those original permit holders don’t renew.
It is not really easy to get a CCP because many police departments have a small window to apply once a week and it is during the time when many people are at work. Many people do not know that they can and there are advantages to to having a concealed permit. The City of Seattle and the State Democrats are pushing for more gun control measures and taxing gun owners.
It seems at some point they will enact laws that would classify many common firearms as assault weapons and require that they be tuned in.
The 2nd amendment means little to some of the elected legislature!
“Others hinted that with taxes rising in many areas, people have had to choose between paying taxes or renewing their carry licenses.”
I have no idea what a CCW permit costs in WA but is it so expensive to the point of causing a major financial drain?
If so, maybe that’s a problem that needs to be addressed. If a single mom has to choose between paying taxes, buying food, or getting her CCW renewed that, as liberals would like to call it, is a social injustice.
I’m gonna chalk this one up to people forgetting to renew. According to the article, CPL number started climbing in January 2013. The license is good for five years. And now it’s 2018. We need to get these people off the couch (the ones that haven’t started smoking pot at least) and back to the sheriff’s office and get that fixed.
Kansas passed Constitutional Carry a few years ago and 10-15% of the Kansas residents decided to save $10/year on the cost of a renewal CCHL
The State of Kansas is not a big state but those CCH licenses that didn’t renew don’t form a voting block number that impresses the legislature.
For the cost of a box of 45 ACP a Kansas resident can renew a CCHL for 4 years including all costs ($25+$16) and the KS AG reports statistics and the legislators do notice.
BTW, Kansas version of Constitutional Carry applies to residents and legal visitors over te age of 21.
Washington CPLs are issued for five years. Five years ago for the period sighted, November 2012 to March 2013 coincides with the gun panic of Obama’s re-election, so the 2% down-tick is likely largely due tothose CPL holders that failed to renew.
As a lifetime Seattle resident, I would suggest that a big part of the reason for the drop in CCW numbers is the utterly toxic, hard-Left, anti-gun environment here which is manifested in, among other ways, the completely un-Constitutional ordinances and policies in Seattle / King County.
Yes, the State’s Constitution is written in a very pro-Second Amendment way but that hasn’t stopped the City Of Seattle from enacting special taxes on ammunition (on a per-round basis) and a special tax on the sale of every firearm.
This has caused ALL dedicated gun shops to leave the City. Pawn shops, Walmart, etc still sell guns but they don’t depend on them for their business like the dedicated gun shops do. Seattle residents who have been paying attention have been following all of this and savvy gun and ammo buyers simply drive outside of the City limits to buy guns and ammo because the dedicated shops will have the best prices and the best expertise for the buyer who has questions. People who depend on public transportation are tremendously overburdened by this, and I’m guessing many non-car owners just called it quits when it comes to guns. Too much trouble.
There are no gun ranges in Seattle anymore….you have to drive outside of the city in order to practice with your legal firearm. Going to the range now takes an entire afternoon at minimum, when you consider the horrendous traffic around here.
The City of Seattle is constantly attempting to pass un-Constitutional anti-gun ordinances, such as banning firearms from City parks…even legally-concealed ones. All City buildings are ‘gun free zones’ and a LOT of private businesses are as well. Want to stay legal when you enter one of these places? Leave your gun in the car. OOOPS no you can’t because that’s a violation; you’re no longer in control of your weapon. So, you have to leave your gun AT HOME. It’s madness, and that’s precisely the way Seattle wants it….they want it to be so much trouble to carry a firearm that you’ll just say ‘to heck with this’ and give it up altogether.
What the City Government has accomplished with all of this over the years is to make it awfully troublesome to keep up your shooting skills if you live in the City. It costs more, it takes a lot of extra time and there’s the constant threat of it getting even worse and I’d suggest that the drop in carry permits is a reflection of that in two ways:
1. People who are new to firearms got their permits and quickly found out how difficult it is to maintain their shooting proficiency, how much more expensive it is around here than in other areas and how much trouble it is to stay legal if you live in Seattle. Many probably decided that it’s simply not worth it and allowed their permits to lapse, having given up on carrying a firearm legally in Seattle.
2. Passionate firearms people are completely angered for all the previous reasons and this, I believe, is one of many contributing factors that has encouraged a lot of them to leave Seattle/ King County. It’s insanely expensive to live here, for all the wrong reasons, and passionate gun owners like to be able to pursue their hobby without it having to turn into an Everest Expedition just in order to go shooting at a range.
What if, get this, they carry their guns without a permit because the constitution at the federal level states the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. The US Constitution Trumps the state constitution concerning powers that it has vested in it and guess what the 2A is stated clearly in the US Constitution.
Highly likely that a lot of gun owners are simply making an exodus out of the state. There are a lot of them who also have property and even homes in Idaho or Montana, and with WA trying to go full California on guns, they are getting out of there early.
Also, Washington is very Orwellian. A CCWP is being on a list of sorts. You don’t need a permit to open carry out in the sticks. And possibly the people in the hinterlands are deciding not to be on a list and just wear the gun on the outside.
Perhaps because gun owners realize that CWP’s are only valid until the government decides that they want our weapons, then the CWP’s become an address book for the government thugs to find the addresses of all gun owners.
I can’t speak for others, but as a rural resident of the only red county in western WA, I have zero interest in the state knowing that I own firearms. All of my guns were purchased out of state (legally; I lived out of state at the time), so there’s no record of them in Olympia. Any new guns will be 80% frames machined in my own shop. I had a WA CWP when I was in my early 20s, but it lapsed a long time ago. Like Danny, I’m almost never out at night; my primary concern is protecting myself, my family and our property at home. I neither need nor want permission from the socialist wackos in Olympia to do that, and I definitely don’t want to be on a seizure list when they pass legislation giving themselves the power to confiscate legally owned guns. Snohomish, King, Pierce and Thurston counties can create a gun-free utopia if they wish, but I’m opting out.
Address book not needed it will be block by block. They need to know that those behind them have no weapons. This thought process is misleading to those who have never seen urban combat (Iraq) and gives a false sense of security to those who believe they will be skipped over because there is no “record” of a firearm. It will absolutely be house to house no way around it
If course it will be a targeted search. Seattle is a liberal city, as knows that most people are not right-wing gun nuts who would defy the law because of their delusions. Going house to house would be a waste of time when the majority of people obey the law. No, which houses need to be searched will be easy to identify thanks to social media, especially Facebook, as it doesn’t delete anything you ever post, even drafts you thought you deleted. No, once the majority of responsible gun owners license or surrender their arms, the criminals who would defy the law will be easy to identify from all their Moron Lube and III% BS posts, and they will be the one’s getting the no-knock searches as felons considered armed and dangerous. Once a cop died doing that, expect the searches to get even more aggressive and violent.
BTW – Banning guns is exactly how we on the Left intend to take revenge on the NRA and the right-wing for your treason with Russia in electing Trump, and how we destroy the Republican Party.
Perhaps a contributing factor is the fact that WA State does not believe it’s necessary to send CCW license holders renewal notices!
West coast fools.
So, you think it’s a good idea to drive wedges between like-minded people by promoting geographical tribalism, but it’s us “fools” out here in the West who are the problem?
Left coast.
I think in part, because the older “die hard” believers of the 2nd amendment are dying off.
For myself, I’ll not likely to get a CCW for a couple of reasons. One, because I rarely go out in public at night unless I have to. And two because I only have 2 pistols I purchased within the last 5 years. These are the only purchase I’ve made for handguns for nearly 60 years. The others have are no longer on the books & I want to keep it that way. I don’t need a CCW to defend myself in my own home.
Better watch out. Once they get one weapon, they can take them all. Look at Illinois right now. Fining people $1,000 a day until they turn in their legally purchased weapon.
Not that it makes it better, but it’s just one village (Deerfield), and you don’t have to turn in your AR type rifle, you just can’t “possess” one in the village. So to be in compliance you would have to store it outside the village limit. No one’s going to obey the ordinance, so it’s a waste of paper.
I think you’re confused. There are no laws in Illinois requiring us to turn in legal firearms and I have no illegal firearms. The two I purchased legally aren’t on any hit list, so there’s no reason to turn in anything.
Illinois the state is not imposing a 1000 a day fine to its residents. A smaller suburb named Deerfield just passed that law which was immediately objected to in the court system so the fight continues for that suburb ONLY.
Easy answer to that one, all of the freedom loving Constitutionals are moving to TEXAS! We are currently importing left coasters in the tens of thousands every year. (67,000 + last year) Freedom of gun ownership and carry rights, great economy that is also free of the socialist dream of the far left states. We do need to be cautious though, these same folks are bringing with the the nanny state ideology, which could cause an erosion of our heritage. Welcome to Texas, but leave your socialism behind please!
@Griz44Mag Well said!
Gun rights are not a pull from Washington to Texas. WA’s constitution has protected open carry from the beginning, with no permitting or permission required. Texas residents were only recently “given permission” to OC.
The State legislature has the only authority to pass any laws, rules or regulations regarding firearms within the state. There is no gerrymandering of gun-free cities or neighborhood. What’s legal in the smallest town is legal in the heart of Seattle or Spokane. Even though the legislature and the courts are extremely liberal, legislators know that the constitutional provision ties their hands and the hands of the courts.
Unlike TX, “no guns allowed” signs have no authority in WA. At worst, if one carries into a gun free store and the firearm is seen, the manager can ask the patron to leave. There is no trespass unless the person carrying refuses the request to leave. There is no such crime as “printing” in WA. Since OC is legal without permits, a CPL holder can switch from OC to CC at any time he or she wants.
There are many reasons to leave WA for a place like Texas, but gun rights are not one.
I’m within earshot of the Evergreen State College several times each week. The stench of militant idiots baked on “legal” marijuana actually gives me a bit of hope for Washington. They prove the term “dope” was driven by demonstrable facts. Give us a few years, and the “greeners” will be no more than whiny, obese couch potatoes. Even the most militant progressive managers won’t hire an Evergreen “graduate,” and the greeners will be too busy flipping hamburgers to pay for their marijuana addiction. They’ll have neither the time or energy (or brain cells) to continue political advocacy.
I strongly opposed “legalizing” marijuana, but my mind has been changed. The more liberal the person, the more they smoke. The more they smoke, the dumber and lazier they get. They’re removing themselves from power and advocacy in order to get stoned. Political Darwinism gives me a glimpse of hope. They’re approaching lobotomies via weed. Some of the progressive elites will remain, but they won’t have the army of lemmings to back them.
Amen brother!
Could you give us all a little more information on Conceal Carry Vs Open Carry here in Washington? Where did the Tax come from regarding obtaining a Conceal Carry permitt?
Thanks for the information,
Lauren
The key point is that many do not want to live in leftist WA. anymore so they move to a real American state (Texas) that also doesn’t have state income tax. My son is in mortgage lending, Austin, and is experiencing huge influxes of people moving there from the west coast. They don’t like the west coast politics, taxes, and high cost of living. King county is just another extension of LALA land California and has the same government mentality. If conservatives are leaving Washington, then it would at least partially explain the decrease of CC. I grew up in Spokane Washington and relocated to Texas. Went to school at the UofW, and even back then Seattle was horribly unsafe and overpriced.
I moved from Western Washington to Idaho 11 years ago. Although I had other valid reasons the gun laws made the move easier. Since then I bought 3 NFA firearms. One doesn’t need a CWP in Idaho, although I do have one just to speed up gun purchases. Idaho believes in individual gun rights and I am just 57 miles from Washington.
VERY TRUE AND FUNNY…THANKS
I thought that about abortion too, since the pro-abortionist’s are liberals. But abortion was legalized in 1973 and it has not hindered the growth of the democrat party. I believe it is because they are indoctrinating new generations through the public school systems, keeping a fresh supply of “young minds full of mush” coming. Even some kids from very conservative families are now protesting against their own parents beliefs and consider their parents to be alt-right idiots.
Open carry always legal, but you need a license to carry concealed. Maybe those 11,000 just went to the Roy Rogers look? Or, instead of PAYING for some license, have just decided to carry sans license. I’m slow, so the reasons for authorizing the first and not the second is a little bemusing. Does someone walking into my joint exhibiting a Wyatt Earp Buntline Special make me feel better than another walking around with a concealed handgun, license or not, that I can’t see?
Agreed Griz44Mag, I fled Mexifornia over 6 years ago but to Florida. Now I am seeing a big influx of north eastern people ( mostly New York and New Jersey) who are bringing there liberal ideas with them! I keep hearing people say ” well back home we did it this way or that way”!
Good riddance! As a proud Seattle liberal, the fewer morons who think they are a hero in the making running around with guns the better! Seriously, gun rights nuts need to move to Texas, where Trump living scum are welcome. We don’t want your kind here, as we are building a civilization for the future, and your kind aren’t ready for the 21st century. Please, take your ignorant asses to places like Texas where living in the past with your wild West delusions are welcome. We want to be more like Japan, where guns are effectively banned, and they don’t have any mass shootings. Besides, you’re just not going to fit in with civilized people.
OOOH! A bad person. Typical Seattle Socialist left wing elitist nut.
I think it has a lot more to do with the influx of snowflake types – and their mind numbing effect on those that may be on the fence about supporting their Second Amendment rights. King and Pierce counties have the worst infestation. There has been a steady migration from the south up ere for several years. This has accelerated with the rise of tech companies – the industry draws millennial slackers like fruit flies. And they are not known to be NRA members, as a rule.
I was born here and have 63 years of watching how things develop around these parts. The human pollutants that have been streaming here make me want to puke. But the pendulum always swings both ways. This too will change.
I used to live in Seattle in the early 1990’s, and obtained my CPL with no problems. Washington has become so very liberal that, even though I loved living in the Seattle area (more conservative Eastside back then), I am still perplexed by the ever-growing liberal culture. Either they were/are Boulder (Colorado) rejects, or Boulder is filled with Seattle rejects.
Back to the point. I think the general population have become apathetic “sheeple”: follow the crowd in ignorant bliss, until eaten by the predators. Many conservative “sheeple” have been beaten down so much, that they succumb to the liberal agendas. That is how the Left works, and so effectively.
King and Pierce Counties are bastions of liberalism, which may explain why the numbers have dropped the most in those places.
WA and OR anti-gun/gun control supporters have been watching CA and learning how far they can push things. Perhaps they have pushed them to the point where pro-gun people have given up on CCWs and chosen to seek simply keeping their basic rights. Though this is far from what James Madison and George Mason envisioned.