Washington WA LEO Can See Citizen's 4473 Activity ?

[DirectDrive]

Also in the State of Washington 1639 requires the following:

RCW 9.41.139, as adopted under Initiative 1639, requires that the Washington State Department of Licensing work with the Washington State Patrol and other state and local law enforcement agencies to develop a process to verify—at least once a year—that the owner of a pistol or semiautomatic assault rifle remains eligible to possess a firearm under state and federal law. If the owner is determined to be ineligible for any reason, notification and the relevant information will be provided to the chief of police or the sheriff of the jurisdiction in which the owner resides. Steps are then required to be taken to ensure the owner is not illegally in possession of firearms.

That says it all.

 

[Alexx1401]

That says it all.

The sad part is gun owners voted for this law twice by ignoring it. Many of them still do not know it even went in.

 

[DirectDrive]

I kind of wondered about that too. Since hand gun purchases and now "assault rifles" go through the WA state bureaucratic clown show, it makes me wonder who all can see the info??? We are FAR from the days where you filled out paper work at the dealer and walked off with a gun.

I think that 1639 section that 69AK cited makes it real.
So from what I gather, there is a "record" of handgun and semi-automatic sales that LE cap tap into.
Say it ain't so.

 

[Lennie]

Historically, since the 1970s, Washington state maintains a database tying handguns purchased to a person, This process now includes so called assault rifles. Firearms dealers must submit a copy of the WA state paperwork to the state. Historically the Washington state department of licensing has entered this information into a data base which includes buyer info, firearm info and SN

From Gifford Law Center: An additional copy must be sent within seven days to the state director of licensing

This additional copy is Washington States application to transfer

Washington States form has nothing to do with the 4473 Federal form

From Gifford Law
The Washington Department of Licensing is authorized by law to keep copies or records of applications for concealed pistol licenses, copies or records of applications for alien firearm licenses, copies or records of applications to purchase handguns, and copies or records of handgun transfers

 

[69IzhmashAK]

I think that 1639 section that 69AK cited makes it real.
So from what I gather, there is a "record" of handgun and semi-automatic sales that LE cap tap into.
Say it ain't so.

They are required to do so every year after a handgun or semi auto rifle that transferred after July 1, 2019.

 

[awshoot]

The 4473 info is kept on file at the dealer for 20 years, and is sent to the ATF when dealer closes. It is shared with the nics system for background check.
Info used in nics check is to be destroyed after a period of time. Can't remember how long, but a short period.
I don't believe that they do that.
But the Washington pistol and semi auto laws. Allows for a data base that can be accessed by law enforcement.
A few years ago I asked our Sheriff what pistols were registered to me. I was given a list that went back to the 1980's. I don't believe that this is legal. My thought was to remove pistols that I no longer have from that list.
I have not found a way to do that.
So can they get that info during a traffic stop? I don't think so, but they can get it.

WA's pistol registry has been part of the law since 1935. I once did a deep dive into that history -- starts here: https://www.northwestfirearms.com/t...tion-in-washington.267755/page-2#post-1937415 and the posts following that.

There might be some technical issue between FOPA's prohibition on states starting registries after its passage in 1986 with the way WA did the recording of these records. Initially, the predecessor agency to the DOL kept them, then in 1983 this duty was put on local Chiefs of Police, and then in 1994 it went back to the DOL(*). If the "Chief of Police" is not a political subdivision of the state as the term is used in FOPA, then one could argue that no subdivision of the state had a registry already existing in 1986, and that the registry became illegal in 1994 when it was transferred to the DOL.

To think that argument would prevail however, is probably a lot of wishful thinking. I would bet that a court would do whatever backflips were necessary if this argument seemed even remotely valid, to uphold WA's pistol (and now semi-auto rifle) registry.

(*) See these two posts specifically:

Washington - Pistol Registration in Washington

I'll bet you a dollar if they passed a confiscation they will know who has what... Ish;)

www.northwestfirearms.com

Washington - Pistol Registration in Washington

I'll bet you a dollar if they passed a confiscation they will know who has what... Ish;)

www.northwestfirearms.com

 

[awshoot]

WA's pistol registry has been part of the law since 1935. ...

Here's a citation for the DOL's record keeping duties in the most recent version of the registry which started in 1994: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=9.41.129

 

[User 1234]

The federal prohibition against a firearm registry only bars the feds from creating such a registry, not the states.

 

[Lincoln4]

To answer the original question... No. Retired LEO (June 2021).