By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
For the sixth month in a row, the number of active Washington state concealed pistol licenses has been in a gradual decline, averaging just over 1,000 per month, according to data from the state Department of Licensing.
The license, which is good for five years, is held by more than 690,000 state residents. As of April 1, the number of active CPLs was 691,107, down from the 697,206 reported last October. For the smallest state in the western Continental U.S.—and a state consider to be “blue” politically—the number still is stunning. It translates to roughly 9-10 percent of the adult population being licensed to carry.
The Evergreen State has never reached the “magic” 700,000 threshold, although the numbers have come close. Washington has one of the strongest state constitutional right-to-bear-arms provisions, adopted Nov. 11, 1889 when statehood was achieved. When Arizona became a state in 1912, the provision was copied word-for-word, with slightly different punctuation.
The provision reads: “The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself, or the state, shall not be impaired, but nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing individuals or corporations to organize, maintain or employ an armed body of men.”
Both Washington and Arizona re “open carry” states, but with far left Democrats in control of the Legislature, Washington gun owners have been experiencing increasingly restrictive gun control under Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson. Both have supported increased restrictions, including bans on so-called “assault weapons” and “large-capacity magazines.”
It is not clear why then number of active CPLs is declining, especially considering the fact that violent crime is still a leading news item, and law enforcement manpower has also declined since the summer of 2020.
According to the annual report on Crime in Washington, prepared by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC), “Crime was up and the number of law enforcement officers was down,” in the report for 2022, the most recent year for which data is available.
In 2022, there were 394 homicides in the state, more than double the number of slayings (172) in 2014 listed in the FBI Uniform Crime Report for that year.
“This is the highest number of murders recorded since WASPC began collecting this data in 1980,” the WASPC report says.
It was in November 2014 that Washington voters approved the first of two restrictive gun control initiatives largely financed by the billionaire-backed Alliance for Gun Responsibility, based in Seattle. Gun rights organizations including the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms have declared the gun control effort in Washington to be a “disaster.”
By 2018, when a second restrictive gun control measure was passed, following a multi-million dollar campaign which overwhelmed the opposition, the number of murders in Washington had climbed to 232.
It is no secret that many gun owners have moved out of the state to get away from the increasingly onerous gun laws.
According to WASPC, “The total number of commissioned officers statewide (in 2022) was 10,666, down from 10,736 in 2021, while the total population of the state increased by 93,262. Washington again is ranked 51st out of the 50 states and District of Columbia for the number of officers per thousand residents. Reported cases of officers assaulted was 2,375 in 2022, an increase of 20.7 percent.”
