By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Washington State concealed carry data—which TGM has been monitoring monthly for several years—may have hit a new norm, hovering just under 700,000 active licenses with no indication it will bounce significantly in one direction or the other.
According to the state Department of Licensing, February ended with 699,350 active CPLs in circulation, down just under 500 from the 699,842 posted at the end of January. This followed December’s total of 699,140 CPLs.
Of special interest was the slight dip in the number of licenses held by residents in the state’s most populous, and politically blue, county: King. There, according to the Licensing Department data, the month ended with 111,930 legally-licensed residents, down slightly from the 112,123 people who held licenses at the end of January.
King County is really the Pacific Northwest’s hub when it comes to the gun prohibition lobby. The Far Left has controlled King County politics for decades, and its legislative delegation of Democrats are typically on board with any restrictive gun control measure at the state capitol in Olympia.
For three straight months last year, the number of licenses actually spiked above 700,000, but with the onset of Autumn and what appears to have been another migration of conservatives and especially gun owners out of the Evergreen State for more rights-friendly environs in other states, such as neighboring Idaho, Montana, Arizona and Texas, it lowered by a fraction the number of people renewing or applying for CPLs.
Why is concealed carry so important in Washington? It’s because the interest underscores what has been happening in the state after four decades of increasingly anti-gun Democrats in the Governor’s office, and the incremental increase in the dominance of Democrats in the Legislature. In some jurisdictions, police manpower has dwindled, with Seattle down to about half the size of the police department since 2020.
Rising crime in the state, combined with fewer commissioned police and sheriffs’ deputies, also has contributed to a sense among citizens they must taken more responsibility for their own safety.
But the gun control crowd has been working hard to pass laws making it more difficult for average citizens to buy guns and obtain carry licenses. As reported this week, the state House Appropriations Committee passed SHB 1163, which will require a permit-to-purchase a firearm. That permit would have to be obtained from the Washington State Patrol. The bill is so onerous, even Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels came out strongly against it in an interview with a local Spokane television station.
As the smallest western state on the mainland, Washington has perhaps the largest number of resident CPLs in circulation.
