Hello all, as a non resident of Washington I've got a question about your firearm laws. Essentially I just need to know if a non resident can be in possession of a unloaded and cased handgun without having any legal problems. I'm catching a connection flight in Seattle on my way to Alaska, there's always a chance of something going wrong on the airline side and then getting stuck overnight. I'm from Illinois and I know how strict state laws can be for firearms, obviously both Illinois and Washington have recently passed new laws. Thanks for any advice or heads up!

Take a look at the following video from Washington Gun Law.  It focuses on road trips, but I would think the same information applies to your application.


https://youtu.be/WhfA5qUPeZQ

As long as you're not "importing" >10 round mags, handguns should be fine. Very very sad, just a couple years ago you could bring through anything federally legal, now with the AWB and mag bans all sorts of common stuff is possibly no go :-/

Thank you for the reply, I feel your pain clear out here in Illinois ??.  I carry a G48 because of magazine restrictions now, when they passed our AWB in January they did add a grandfather clause for "high capacity" magazines...........problem is you can't have them loaded in public places . Thank you for the reply, I just wanted to make sure it was ok to be a non resident and have a unloaded firearm in my possession.........I know in states like NY and NJ it's illegal.

Just so I’m clear, as I’m traveling to WA soon and didn’t want to post a new thread, does the law consider “importing” magazines if I’m staying 10 days and leaving with the same mags I came with?

If so, guess I’m bringing my G43 instead of my G19…

The act of bringing them in to the state is importing...


Possession is still legal. Is anyone going to go through your luggage at the airport and arrest you for importing mags? I doubt it, but you'll have to make your own decisions.