Gifting a firearm to my brother, Questions!

[ZeroRing]

If your brother is also a Washington resident, state and federal law have no prohibition against your transferring it to him, with no paperwork at all.... IF he can legally own the gun.

As to that felony... have him check with the court.jurisdiction where the conviction was. They should be able to tell him whether it has been expunged. If they say it was, he is clear to own the firearm. If he was not, advise him to persue having the court clear the record. Once that is done, he is clear to own the firearm.

The law does not prohibit ownership simply on the basis of sometime in the past having committed a felony. It only prohibits ownership when that felony is still on his record, and his rights to own have not been restored.

BUT--do have him check and make sure with the jurisdiction of record. If it is still there, and you give it and he gets it, you are BOTH up for felony gunlaw violation charges. You should easily be able to check, and get it cleared if its not already, without paying the ransom money to a legal guy. Simple matter of contacting the court of jurisdiction. DO NOT assume its clear because he's had a few birthdays since the conviction. Sometimes the courts "forget" to do what they are supposed to do. IF it is still there, even by accident, you could both be in serious trouble. If they've merely overlooked it, the request to expunge it should be granted with little trouble. But MAKE CERTAIN the record is cleared, or, at the least, that his right to own a firearm is restored.

And regardless of what anyone at the court verbally tells your brother regarding the felony being expunged I wouldn't do ANYTHING related to a transfer until he has something IN WRITING from the court that states that his record is indeed clean and his legal rights to own a firearm are in fact his.

If it ain't in writing its just hearsay.

 

[crosse]

there's the washington state patrol felony background search.
https://watch.wsp.wa.gov/

i've used this in the past when I wanted to be more secure on the fact I wasn't selling to a known felon.
but its only for state of washington offenses.