I-1639

Dear Friends,

I-1639, the most recent anti-gun initiative, means the following changes in WA law.

Sales and transfers of all semiautomatic rifles are now subject to...

• ...an additional fee, which is $18. This is collected by gun dealers and forwarded to the state.
• ...a mandatory waiting period of 10 business days, defined as Monday through Friday minus state and federal holidays.
• ...an age limit: they cannot be sold or transferred to anyone under 21 years old.
• ...training requirement. This can be taken online and for free here.
• ...police background check, which requires an application similar to the one for handguns.

Please note that this affects only SEMIAUTOMATIC RIFLES. The process for receivers did not change, so you can still buy an AR upper and AR lower separately and have the lower transferred to you on the same day after the normal NICS check. However, we cannot break an existing rifle up - the parts need to have come to us as a lower receiver from the source.

While I-1639 imposes no additional requirements for handgun transfers, because of an unrelated policy change by FBI, all handgun transfers have to go through police background check upfront, even for CPL holders.

Here is an excellent overview of all changes that took effect on July 1st, 2019.