Moving to Washington State, need help with pro-gun location

I'm a bit north of Lewis so I can't help you w/ shooting locations down there. However, I can tell you that WA is a shall issue state and there is also a state law preventing local municipalities from passing more stringent gun laws than the state laws and the state currently has no goofy hollowpoint, assault weapon, or mag laws. However, fully auto weapons are illegal. Seattle fairly recently tried to impose a gun ban in city parks but it was struck down because of the aforementioned state law. Welcome to the neighborhood!


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Puyallup which is about 20 miles from your station has a good indoor range and there are a couple of outdoor ranges near. My son lives there and the housing market is depressed right now so some good buys in the neighborhood. Excellent Washington arms collectors gunshow once a month except Sept. As above gun laws are pretty good except no NFA stuff. Welcome to the Northwest!
Bob Ray

i'm from oregon myself and can't help with some of the more obscure laws. we, here in the pacific northwest, have quite a thriving online forum community with quite a few washington members from the general area you are thinking about settling in. they should have the answers to your more specific questions. check it out: http://www.northwestfirearms.com/forum.php

Washington has State preemption- there are no county or city laws to worry about.

Wash State sounds cool. When I'm finished w/school, licensing, etc, I might move there.

As long as it doesn't rain much.

As long as it doesn't rain much.

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That means you move to central or eastern Washington. The Cascade mountain range changes the climate completely as you move eastward from the coast.

To "leadcounsel": Puyallup is not a bad area if you have to commute to Fort Lewis. There are many good gun stores within striking distance, some with ranges. I suggest you do a search on this forum and on The Firing Line, as there have been good threads on the subject.

Be advised that you are unlikely to live on land that you can shoot on, and still be able to commute to Fort Lewis. And that the housing prices were higher than national average before the housing bubble 'bursted'. So they may still be 'not cheap'.

Bart Noir

Rain, rain rain and recently cold, cold, cold.

Guns seem to be well tolerated by the general public in the rural areas. Suburban areas not so much but it's mostly a gun friendly state which is weird since the state is mostly Liberal.

Owning enough land here in western WA to shoot on your property is pretty much unheard of; for that, you'd need to go east of the Cascades. I'm not too familiar with the Ft. Lewis area, but generally it's not hard to find indoor and outdoor ranges in my experience. If you want to hunt or otherwise shoot for free in the woods, it's maybe an hour's drive to get far enough away from it all.

When I moved here from Alaska I spoke with the park services, Seattle Police Dept., and Dept. of Fish & Wildlife about open vs. concealed carry, and the consensus was that pistols are best carried concealed, and it's a good idea to carry a rifle or shotgun in the open only while hunting. Technically it's a CCW/OCW state, but if a liberal sees your piece, they will get scarred & angry, then call the cops or forest rangers. Getting a concealed carry license is easy, though, and it lets you bypass the waiting period if you want to buy a handgun.

Overall, I think you're fortunate to get stationed out here; it's not a bad state for gun owners.

Edit: You didn't ask about this, but they do prohibit knives that spring open as well as anything over 2 1/2 or 3". I forget which.

I'm going to disagree with Wolfeye on the open carry issue. I carried my sidearm openly for many years living in downtown Tacoma. While what he wrote was true, it is no longer the case. You can carry openly if you want and the police won't bother you. It is illegal for the police to detain you for lawful behavior, and open carry is lawful behavior. A screaming liberal called the Tacoma PD on me while I was walking in Wright Park in Tacoma- the dispatcher told her they wouldn't come. She wasn't happy, but they weren't going to come. Many people, myself included, OC in Seattle with no drama.

I have never heard of anyone having any trouble openly carrying while hiking or backpacking. My list of hobbies feature hiking, backpacking, and fishing, all of which sit higher on the list than guns due to the amount of time I devote to them. Nobody has ever looked twice. I carry a Glock G20SF in a Bianchi military holster, so it's very easy to spot it. I've never had any drama from hikers who were hiking with me or other hikers passing by.

EDIT to add: It's never a good idea to ask LE or Park/Forest Rangers questions about firearms carry. They almost always know the law but advise even more restrictive than the law requires. It's often based on their opinions more than practicality.

West and NW of the base you will find the communities of Steilacoom and University Place (where I grew up). Both have good schools and are friendly to military families. Housing in the I-5 corridor from Olympia north is expensive. The closer to the interstate, the more expensive and many cities have restrictions on the discharge of firearms. Rural (county) personal range sized parcels are available if you are willing to commute and can afford them. You could look SE of the base in Yelm, McKenna, Roy for instance. The Lacy/Olympia/Tumwater area is also favored by many in the military.
University Place is home to the oldest gun club in the state. Check out the Tacoma Rifle and Revolver Club at http://www.tacomarifle.org/index.htmThey can be seen on Google Earth at 47 12’09.73” N by 122 33’05.75” W. That is a private club and their $150 annual dues are about what you can expect for a member club in the suburbs. You can find cheaper ones as you get farther to the east and south.
While it is true that western Washington tends to be politically liberal, it is not the liberalism of the NE Atlantic states. I would say we have a liberal social agenda tempered by a fiscal conservative streak that restrains us from adopting policies we can not afford. Our gun politics is perhaps bewildering to the garden variety of liberal in that we were “shall issue” before the term became a political slogan. Our laws became the model that was adopted (and adapted) as the rest of the country started in that direction. When a group of gun controllers put forth Initiative 676 in 1997 (they were looking for mandatory trigger locks and a handgun safety course for hand gun owners) it was defeated in every county in the state and overall the vote was about 70%-30%. Even though Bill Gates and his father put a lot of money into getting it passed, the Microsoft gun club donated their time and expertise into supporting the NRA, Washington Arms Collectors (WAC), and others in sending the measure to inglorious defeat. The percentage of people with a CPL is among the highest in the nation. I work at a large state research university in Seattle that is overwhelmingly liberal, but the number of people working here who own guns and actually enjoy the shooting sports would surprise most people.
You will probably want to join the WAC. Our monthly show in Puyallup is reportedly one of the largest and best west of the Mississippi. I read people decrying the sorry excuses for gun shows that they are attending, but I find plenty of bargains and a huge selection at the WAC.
Welcome to Washington,
-BothellBob