WA state reciprocity
Posted: Fri May 25, 2012 11:59 pm
First off, if any of you find yourself in Washington state for whatever reason, I highly encourage you to apply for a non-resident CCW permit while you are there. It's extremely easy to do, there's no required class, and you can apply at any local law enforcement office. You make an appointment, go in, fill out some paperwork, get fingerprinted, and pay your $52.50. I was there for less than 45 minutes and most of that time was spent waiting for my turn to be called. It will hopefully be arriving by mail in 60 days or less (unfortunately, you have to apply in person).
Interesting bit of trivia; before making my trip I checked to see if they would take my AK permit and they do not, which was not a surprise, because they never did before, either. What did puzzle me is that on the state website, the listed reason for not accepting AK permits is "No CPL requirement to carry concealed." I found that odd, because while we don't require a permit, we still recognize all other state permits specifically by statute, to maintain reciprocity with those states that require formal recognition of their permits. And it turns out that's not the actual reason.
When I went in to apply, they gave me a handout of WA weapons laws that gave a better explanation. Turns out, it doesn't say anything about a state's permit needing to be on some list in order to qualify; that's just published as a courtesy. There are 3 requirements for an out of state CCW permit to be recognized in WA. The first is that the state can't issue CCW permits to persons under the age of 21. The second is that a fingerprint based background check must be conducted prior to issuance, and the third is that the applicant's mental health history must be checked. The last requirement turns out to be the snag.
A phone call to the Alaska State Troopers div. of Permits and Licensing reveals that they are prohibited by law from looking at mental health history as part of issuing a CCW permit. So, that is the real reason an AK permit is not valid in WA and that is unlikely to change. And while I'm not really sure I'm enthusiastic about the idea of AST being able to look at mental health history as part of the background check for a permit, I had hoped to be able to single handedly establish reciprocity between the two states by making a few phone calls. Oh well.
Interesting bit of trivia; before making my trip I checked to see if they would take my AK permit and they do not, which was not a surprise, because they never did before, either. What did puzzle me is that on the state website, the listed reason for not accepting AK permits is "No CPL requirement to carry concealed." I found that odd, because while we don't require a permit, we still recognize all other state permits specifically by statute, to maintain reciprocity with those states that require formal recognition of their permits. And it turns out that's not the actual reason.
When I went in to apply, they gave me a handout of WA weapons laws that gave a better explanation. Turns out, it doesn't say anything about a state's permit needing to be on some list in order to qualify; that's just published as a courtesy. There are 3 requirements for an out of state CCW permit to be recognized in WA. The first is that the state can't issue CCW permits to persons under the age of 21. The second is that a fingerprint based background check must be conducted prior to issuance, and the third is that the applicant's mental health history must be checked. The last requirement turns out to be the snag.
A phone call to the Alaska State Troopers div. of Permits and Licensing reveals that they are prohibited by law from looking at mental health history as part of issuing a CCW permit. So, that is the real reason an AK permit is not valid in WA and that is unlikely to change. And while I'm not really sure I'm enthusiastic about the idea of AST being able to look at mental health history as part of the background check for a permit, I had hoped to be able to single handedly establish reciprocity between the two states by making a few phone calls. Oh well.
