By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
The number of concealed pistol licenses in Washington State appears to have plateaued over the past several months at the low to mid-690,000 mark with the latest available data from the state Department of licensing showing January ending with 692,969 active CPLs, a miniscule decline from the year-end figure of 693,188.
It comes at a time when Democrats in the state capital of Olympia are pushing more gun control measures; everything from permits-to-purchase to a liability insurance mandate for gun owners. But with legislative deadlines looming, if some bills don’t move soon, they will not move at all.
One interesting revelation in the new CPL numbers is that King County—the state’s most populous, and most “blue” politically—reported an increase in January. Likewise, distant Spokane County’s number went up as well. There is never any clear explanation why the CPL numbers waver, but for more than a year, gun rights activists have been expecting the total to surpass 700,000 and it just hasn’t happened…yet.
At the beginning of January 2023, there were 696,438 active CPLs and by Feb. 1, the number had grown to 697,690. As March opened, the data was still moving upward, reaching 698,147. But that’s where the momentum stopped. Over the remainder of 2023, the numbers retreated, then advanced, and then retreated again.
Perhaps one reason might be the number of Washington gun owners who have literally moved away to more pro-rights surroundings, such as Arizona, Oklahoma and Texas. Other gun owners—as has been indicated by social media messages—crossed the border into Idaho, or went farther, to Montana.
But that is not an option for most people. The next best thing for them is to become politically active in an effort to change the state legislature from one-party rule, and perhaps even capture the Governor’s office and the Attorney General’s office.
One place where Evergreen State gun owners keep tabs on legislation is at the Washington 2024 Legislative Action Group’s Facebook page.
