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.

Washington's weapons-prohibited-places statute (RCW 9.41.300) — jails, courts, mental-health facilities, alcohol-restricted areas, secure airport zones, etc. — does not name boats or waterways. But SB 5444 (2025) is reported to have expanded the list to include public libraries, zoos, aquariums, and 'transit facilities,' which could reach Washington State Ferries (a major public water-transit system); I could not confirm the amended statutory text directly. Private/recreational boating away from any listed sensitive place appears unrestricted for a valid CPL holder.

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.

Washington's trespass definitions (RCW 9A.52.010) clearly allow posted notice to establish unlawful entry for land/'apparently unused' or time-restricted property, but the excerpt I could obtain did not clearly resolve whether a firearms-specific sign at an ordinary retail business open to the public — as opposed to personally-communicated revocation of the general public invitation — is sufficient by itself. No Washington-specific firearms-signage statute exists, so this remains genuinely unresolved from what I could verify.

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 carrying a firearm/dangerous weapon into a ballot counting center, voting center, student engagement hub, or county elections office — BUT subsection (4) expressly states this 'does not prohibit concealed carry of a pistol, by a person licensed to carry a concealed pistol pursuant to RCW 9.41.070' at those locations. So for a concealed-carry permit holder specifically, the answer is yes; the ban targets open/unlicensed carry (and any violation involving a firearm triggers automatic 3-year CPL revocation). Enacted 2022 (HB 1630/1224), effective June 9, 2022.

10-round limit, but the statute (RCW § 9.41.370, enacted 2022) bans only manufacture, import, distribution, and sale — possession of magazines owned before the ban is legal. Currently enforced; Gator's Custom Guns v. Washington (challenging the ban) is pending before the Ninth Circuit alongside Duncan v. Bonta as of late Aug. 2026.

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.