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A WA friend I introduced to Suppressors in Oregon a few months back, today I joked when is his cans coming in. He then told me he can legally own one in WA State but can not use it in WA State? So he has not bought one.

When did this happen or is this for certain counties only? Or is this miss information?
 
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A WA friend I introduced to Suppressors in Oregon a few months back, today I joked when is his cans are coming in. He then told me he can legally own one in WA State but can not use it in WA State? So he has not bought one.

When did this happen or is this for certain counties only? Or is this miss information?


I'm pretty sure that was changed a while back unless they repealed the law making it "legal". @Ranb is the suppressor king and lives in the Silverdale area... maybe he'll chime in for clarification?
 
That's what I recall, as well as Washington "legalized" SBR's a couple 2-3 years back as well.
Yea IIRC it was at the same time. I know when I moved back up here we could not buy Full Auto at all, would let us buy Suppressors but there was some stupid law we could not shoot them. So of course you saw them no where. When the rules changed all of a sudden a lot of places are selling them here now. If it was not such a PITA I would. Cost is enough to burn me a little but the damn idea of waiting a year after I pay is what really makes it hard to do.
 
Back in 1934 WA made silencers illegal to use for anyone including the police; but this did not stop the police from using them. Some of them even said they were exempt from prosecution by the AG. By 2009 various silencer use bills had died in committee as the republican sponsors were not pushing them.

In 2011 Democrat Brian Blake sponsored a new bill and pushed it hard. I also made a video about their benefits and limitations and sent it to every Judiciary committee member and all of the Democrats in Olympia. I got little feedback on the video. The bill passed with 4 no votes in the House and all yes votes in the Senate. And there was much rejoicing.

In 2014 an SBR bill was sponsored by Blake; he did not have the votes for SBS he said.
 
20 Years ago I was buying a silencer as an individual and took the form to the Cowlitz County Sheriff to sign. Not only did he refuse to sign he also told me that if I did find a way around his signature, and I did, that if his deputies found me with a silencer that had residue from firing in it that he would prosecute me to the full extend of the law.

I shot the hell out of that thing. Then they changed the law to make it so I could do so legally. Made me so happy. It was one of those laws that was so widely flouted it was almost an inside joke.
 
Back in 2001 when I made my first silencer, I brought my ATF form 1 to the Mason County sheriff for his signature. He had one licensed manufacturer in the county, but did not know it was legal for unlicensed persons like myself to own them. I told him that they were legal to make/own, but not use. When he asked why I want one, I told him that I planned on retiring to Idaho. His attitude was that if the ATF did not want me to have one, then they would not approve it. He signed it on the spot. Turns out I stayed in WA.

My first can was for my 300 Whisper (like a 300 blk); it worked well so I decided to make some for 22lr, 9mm and 510 Whisper. I went to the sheriff's office but he wasn't in. The secretary remembered me as "that silencer guy". I left the forms with her along with a stamped self-addressed envelope. The nex day she called asking for my birth date so they could run a bkgd check on me. Three day later I got the forms back in the mail signed by the sheriff.

Years later when we got a new sheriff, I wrote him a short letter explaining my hobby and asking for his signature. I told him I could use a trust to own the silencers, but I preferred to own them as an individual for now. I got the forms back signed along with a note thanking me for "jumping through the hoops".

The way I see it any sheriff is a fool to refuse the signature back then. Any time they refuse to sign, the person just needs to use a trust or corp to make.buy the NFA firearm. If they sign, then they know who has the guns, if they don't sign, then they have no idea.

With the Obama administration's writing of 41P, the CLEO signature is no more. Now all individuals and individuals/trusts/corps have to merely inform the CLEO when they submit an application ro make or buy an NFA firearm.

It is rather ironic that Obama has done far more than Trump to ease gun restrictions and Trump has seized far more firearms than any other president with his bump stock (defining them as machine guns) ban.
 
It was one of those laws that was so widely flouted it was almost an inside joke.
No kidding. When I set up my first silencer shoot at the Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club back in 2011, one of the dealers told me that they would routinely demo silencers for various police departments in WA. The police used them on a routine basis also and no problems function testing mine at the local range.
 
Of you couldn't use one the Feds wouldn't be processing the paperwork. Pure and simple "Stuff"!!!:s0073::s0055:

The feds didnt care if the state said you couldnt use it or not. The state said you could own one. Thats all that mattered. It was illegal to fire a silenced firearm in Washington but it was legal to own a silencer so the feds approved sales and transfers. Washington gun laws have always been poorly thought out and were really aimed at sportsmen hunters because thats all the legislature thought people used guns for besides killing.
 

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