Washington gun rights restoration honored in Idaho and Montana?

woodsrunner · Mar 3, 2018

I plead guilty to a class c felony in juvenile in Washington state. In 2004 I hired an attorney and had my record sealed, the conviction was vacated and I had my firearm rights restored, which was a separate order but the lawyer did everything togeather. Now here's my question, I am considering moving too either Idaho or Montana in the future. If I move to one of these states, will I be able to legally buy and posses firearms? I looked around on the internet and it seems in Idaho gun rights can be restored by an expungement or court motion, but I"m not sure if this applies to out of state conviction. It seems like in montana gun rights are restored once the person completes all their time,probation pays all their fines etc. again I"m not sure if this applies to only Montana convictions or also out of state conviction. I heard different things on the internet, but it seems like once the atf database or whatever is updated I should be good to go. Would like to here from either a lawyer or someone who has gone through this before ie having their rights restored in wa state then moving to one of these state, thanks for any info!

bikemutt · Mar 4, 2018

If you can buy a gun in WA I don't see why you couldn't in Montana or Idaho.

Both states are permanent Brady states so NICS is used for all gun checks. WA is NICS for long guns, state + NICS for handguns.

Enjoy your rights.

woodsrunner · Mar 4, 2018

ok thanks, what about getting a cwp in either of these two states? Should I just say no on the application?

bikemutt · Mar 5, 2018

In order to set your mind at ease you might consider ordering up your own rap sheet in WA, it costs $10 and you can do it online, takes but a few minutes. If that shows no felony convictions or prohibiting misdemeanors, you are good. Of course if it did show any of those you wouldn't be able to buy a gun in WA.

Criminal History - WSP

If you really want to go hog wild you can request a copy of your FBI record, if indeed one exists. At one time you had to send in fingerprints in order to get the rap sheet but there may be online ways these days.

Identity History Summary Checks — FBI

Either way, if you can buy a gun in WA, or you have a WA CPL that means you have no prohibitive criminal history preventing you from buying or possessing a gun in WA. Therefore, when asked if you have such prohibitive criminal history, the answer is no.

Now, I've heard that in some cases, just because a felony is vacated or expunged in one state may not mean another state accepts that and thus will consider the person prohibited from gun possession in that state. I have no idea what the circumstances are or what states actually operate like that, or what crimes are included. Still, it would be disappointing to say the least, to move to a state and find out your gun rights aren't what you thought they were. Short of hiring a lawyer, I don't know how to find this out in advance. Although I guess you could visit the state and buy a long gun, may be cheaper than a lawyer

Good luck sir.

Alexx1401 · Mar 5, 2018

woodsrunner said:
ok thanks, what about getting a cwp in either of these two states? Should I just say no on the application?

There is a Lawyer on this forum who deals with this. Hopefully he will see this and chime in. IIRC he said that after the rights are restored by having the conviction taken off you can legally say "NO" when asked. Don't trust my memory for this though until you hear it from someone who knows the law. If you can buy a gun in this state I would think you could get a CPL here. All a matter of a background check. If it works in this state I would also think it would work in other states since they are using the same federal check. Good place to ask would be the lawyer you paid to have this done in the first place to make sure. If he says say no, go and try to get a CPL. If you get that I can't see you getting denied on the gun buy.

WALawyer · Mar 8, 2018

Based on my experience with having clients with WA records living in Idaho and Montana (and NOT on my independent knowledge of the laws of those states), both of those states will honor your WA restoration there (but not all states will, so be careful with this).