How to Sell a Gun in Washington

Washington routes every private sale through a licensed dealer. Under RCW 9.41.113 you deliver the firearm to the dealer, who processes it “as if it is selling or transferring the firearm from its inventory.” Unlike New York’s $10 ceiling, Washington caps nothing — the dealer may charge a fee reflecting the fair market value of the work. The State Patrol background check fee rose to $33 on July 1, 2026 and is billed to the dealer.

The ten-day wait applies to every firearm, and there is no concealed pistol license exemption. Plenty of older guides still say a CPL skips it; Initiative 1639 rewrote RCW 9.41.092 and the current text contains no such carve-out. The ten days run from the date the dealer requested the background check — not from the sale, the payment or any application your buyer made.

Do not confuse what is required now with what arrives in 2027. Since January 1, 2024 a buyer must show proof of a recognized firearm safety training program completed within the last five years, covering eight listed topics, with no live-fire component. From May 1, 2027 that is replaced by a permit to purchase issued by the Washington State Patrol, valid five years, requiring fingerprints and certified training that does include live fire. Saying Washington has no training requirement is wrong today; saying it requires a permit is wrong until 2027.

The family exemption is a gift-or-loan exemption, and that distinction is the whole thing. RCW 9.41.113(4)(a) exempts a transfer between immediate family members — and Washington’s list is generous, reaching spouses, domestic partners, parents, parents-in-law, children, siblings, siblings-in-law, grandparents, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, first cousins, aunts and uncles — but only where the transfer is a bona fide gift or loan. A sale to a family member is not exempt and goes through a dealer like any other. This is the most commonly misunderstood rule in Washington, and it is the exact inverse of New York’s, where a sale to a spouse or child is exempt.

Assault weapons: you may keep one, and you may not sell it here. RCW 9.41.390, effective April 25, 2023, bars manufacturing, importing, distributing, selling or offering an assault weapon for sale — a gross misdemeanor — while deliberately leaving possession lawful; the legislature said it intended to limit prospective sales while allowing existing owners to keep what they have. The one route out for a private owner is through a licensed dealer, to an out-of-state buyer. There is no exemption for selling directly to another private individual, in state or out. Someone who inherits one may possess it but may not transfer it in Washington except to a dealer.

Magazines follow the same shape: more than ten rounds is a large capacity magazine under RCW 9.41.370, selling or distributing one is a gross misdemeanor, and possession is not prohibited. The Washington Supreme Court upheld that ban in May 2025 in State v. Gator’s Custom Guns, and a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court was still pending at the time of writing.

As in New York, the Supreme Court hears the consolidated assault-weapon cases on December 2, 2026, and the federal challenge to Washington’s own ban, Hartford v. Ferguson, is still pending. None of that changes what applies to a sale you make today.