How to Apply for a Concealed Carry Permit in Washington

Washington Concealed Pistol License: The Application Process

You apply for a Washington concealed pistol license (CPL) at a local law enforcement agency, not at a state office. RCW 9.41.070 directs the chief of police of a municipality or the sheriff of a county to issue the license within thirty days after the filing of an application, or up to sixty days in the two cases set out below, unless one of a closed list of disqualifiers applies. The license runs five years from the date of issue.

Washington has no permit to purchase today. RCW 9.41.121 is printed in chapter 9.41, but its only version takes effect May 1, 2027, and the fingerprint fee in RCW 9.41.071 carries the same date. Neither is a step in a CPL application filed now.

Where you file

RCW 9.41.070(13) gives three filing paths. If you live in a municipality, you may apply to that municipality or to the county you live in. If you live in an unincorporated area, you apply to the county. If you are a nonresident, you may apply anywhere in the state. The issuing authority "shall not refuse to accept completed applications for concealed pistol licenses during regular business hours" (RCW 9.41.070(1)).

The Attorney General's firearms FAQ says you must apply in person at a local law enforcement office, and the Department of Licensing tells applicants to expect an appointment and to bring a completed but unsigned form. Those are agency instructions. RCW 9.41.070 does not itself require personal appearance. What it requires is that an original application carry a complete set of fingerprints (RCW 9.41.070(4)), and the fee schedule at RCW 9.41.070(5)(b) pays four dollars to the agency taking them.

The Department of Licensing states on its own page that it does not issue or renew any firearms license. It keeps the central firearms records database, gives agencies forms and database access, and sends CPL renewal notices. Applications, renewals, replacements, fees, and denials go to the police department or sheriff's office.

What the application must contain

RCW 9.41.070(4) says the license application shall bear:

• Full name, residential address, and date and place of birth
• Race, gender, and description
• A complete set of fingerprints and the applicant's signature
• Driver's license number or state identification card number, if used for identification
• Telephone number and email address, each at the applicant's option

The application also asks about eligibility under RCW 9.41.040 and federal law, place of birth, and United States citizenship. An applicant who is not a citizen must give country of citizenship, a United States issued alien number or admission number, and the basis for claiming exemption from federal prohibitions on firearm possession by noncitizens. The same subsection says "The applicant shall not be required to produce a birth certificate or other evidence of citizenship." A noncitizen must also, if applicable, meet the requirements of RCW 9.41.173 and produce proof of compliance at application. That statute is the separate noncitizen firearm license, which a nonimmigrant noncitizen obtains from the sheriff of the county of residence for hunting and sport shooting.

Signing the form waives confidentiality. RCW 9.41.070(4) makes a signed CPL application a written request that the health care authority, mental health institutions, and other health care facilities "release information relevant to the applicant's eligibility for a concealed pistol license to an inquiring court or law enforcement agency." RCW 9.41.097(1) puts the matching duty on those bodies. A photograph may be required and printed on the face of the license.

Agency document lists run past the statute. DOL's firearms page instructs applicants to present a driver's license or state ID showing the current address, says passports and military IDs are not accepted in place of a state-issued ID, and asks permanent residents for a Permanent Resident Card. RCW 9.41.070(4) asks for a license or ID number only "if used for identification," and RCW 9.41.070(11) bars a political subdivision from modifying the requirements of the chapter or asking an applicant "to voluntarily submit any information not required by this section." Ask the agency taking your application which of its requests it treats as mandatory.

Fingerprints and the background check

An application for an original license includes a complete set of fingerprints forwarded to the Washington State Patrol (RCW 9.41.070(4)).

Under RCW 9.41.070(2)(a) the issuing authority runs a check through the national instant criminal background check system, the Washington state patrol electronic database, the health care authority electronic database, and other agencies or resources as appropriate, to determine whether you are ineligible under RCW 9.41.040 or 9.41.045 or prohibited under federal law. Subsection (2)(b) adds that the issuing authority "shall deny a permit to anyone who is found to be prohibited from possessing a firearm under federal or state law." Under subsection (2)(c) both duties apply whether you are applying new or renewing.

An original license gets one more layer. RCW 9.41.070(2)(d): "A background check for an original license must be conducted through the Washington state patrol criminal identification section and shall include a national check from the federal bureau of investigation through the submission of fingerprints." Results return to the issuing authority, and you may request and receive a copy from it. To correct a record, contact the Washington State Patrol for a Washington record and the FBI for records from other jurisdictions. The WSP SAFE system is the separate dealer transfer check under RCW 43.43.580.

How long it takes, and what happens on issuance

RCW 9.41.070(1) sets two clocks:

• Thirty days after the filing of the application, as the general rule.
• Up to sixty days, "if the applicant does not have a valid permanent Washington driver's license or Washington state identification card or has not been a resident of the state for the previous consecutive ninety days."

Either condition alone moves you to the sixty-day track. DOL's page states the first trigger only, as a sixty-day wait for applicants holding an out-of-state license or ID. The residency trigger sits beside it in the statute.

A temporary emergency license may be issued for good cause pending review under subsection (1). It does not exempt the holder from any records check requirement, and temporary emergency licenses "shall be easily distinguishable from regular licenses" (RCW 9.41.070(10)).

On issuance the original goes to the licensee, the duplicate goes to the director of licensing within seven days, and the triplicate is preserved for six years by the issuing authority. DOL keeps copies or records of CPL applications, which may not be disclosed except as RCW 42.56.240(4) allows (RCW 9.41.129).

What it costs

RCW 9.41.070 fixes the fees. No other state or local branch or unit of government may impose additional charges for issuance (RCW 9.41.070(5)), and no other branch or unit of government may impose additional charges for renewal (RCW 9.41.070(6)).

Payment is by cash, check, or money order at the applicant's option, and the issuing authority may allow more methods (RCW 9.41.070(8)). DOL directs applicants to the issuing agency to confirm required fees and accepted payment methods. The federal charge is not the agency's to set: RCW 9.41.070(5) fixes the fee at "thirty-six dollars plus additional charges imposed by the federal bureau of investigation that are passed on to the applicant," and names no figure for the federal part.

If you are denied

RCW 9.41.070(1) frames the grounds as an exception to a right: "The applicant's constitutional right to bear arms shall not be denied, unless" the applicant

• is ineligible to possess a firearm under RCW 9.41.040 or 9.41.045, or is prohibited under federal law;
• has a concealed pistol license in revoked status;
• is under twenty-one years of age;
• is subject to a court order or injunction regarding firearms under chapter 7.105 RCW or one of the listed domestic relations and harassment statutes;
• is free on bond or personal recognizance pending trial, appeal, or sentencing for a felony offense;
• has an outstanding arrest warrant from any court of competent jurisdiction for a felony or misdemeanor; or
• has been ordered to forfeit a firearm under RCW 9.41.098(1)(e) within one year before filing the application.

That last ground is narrower than it looks. RCW 9.41.098(1)(e) covers forfeiture from a person who is in a place where a concealed pistol license is required and who is under the influence of a drug or intoxicating liquor. DOL's page compresses it to any forfeiture order in the last twelve months.

A foreign conviction can disqualify. AGO 2014 No. 6 concludes that a person convicted in a foreign country of a crime comparable to a serious offense or any other felony under Washington law is prohibited from possessing a firearm in Washington and is therefore ineligible for a CPL, and that the issuing authority is prohibited from issuing in that case. Comparability is decided case by case. Separately, no person convicted of a felony may have the privilege to carry a concealed pistol restored unless granted relief from disabilities by the attorney general under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 925(c), or RCW 9.41.040(3) or (4) applies.

The current statute gives you no written denial notice and no administrative reconsideration step. The remedy is judicial. RCW 9.41.0975(2) allows an application to a court of competent jurisdiction for a writ of mandamus directing an issuing agency to issue a license "wrongfully refused," or directing that erroneous information behind a wrongful refusal be corrected. File in the county where you applied or in Thurston county, at your discretion. The court "shall provide an expedited hearing," and a person granted the writ "shall be awarded reasonable attorneys' fees and costs." RCW 9.41.0975(1) immunizes a good-faith failure to issue a license to an eligible person, and the writ is the relief the statute provides.

Renewing

You may renew within ninety days before or after the expiration date (RCW 9.41.070(9)(a)). A license renewed that way takes effect on the expiration date of the prior license. Renewing after expiration adds the ten dollar late penalty to the thirty-two dollar renewal fee. The fingerprint-based FBI check is an original-license step. RCW 9.41.070(2)(d) attaches the national fingerprint check to a background check "for an original license," and subsection (4) forwards the set taken on an original application to the Washington State Patrol. The database and NICS checks in subsection (2)(a) run on renewals too. DOL states that a CPL more than ninety days past expiration cannot be renewed and requires an application for an original license, which matches the statutory window.

Two statements about renewal notices disagree, and the statute governs. RCW 9.41.070(9)(b) says that for licenses expiring on or after August 1, 2018, DOL "shall mail a renewal notice approximately ninety days before the license expiration date," to the address on the application or to a new address you have reported to DOL, and may email it instead if you gave an email address at application. The notice must state the expiration date, the renewal fee, the late penalty, and how to renew. DOL's own web page says notices go out sixty days before expiration. Track your expiration date yourself.

Service members get two provisions. Under RCW 9.41.070(14), a member of the armed forces, including the national guard and reserves, who could not renew because of assignment, reassignment, or deployment for out-of-state military service may renew within ninety days after returning to Washington. Give the issuing authority, no later than ninety days after discharge or the order back to this state, a copy of the original order designating the period of out-of-state service and, if appropriate, the discharge or later order back. That renewal takes effect on the prior expiration date and carries no late penalty. RCW 9.41.070(15) separately requires issuing agencies to run a mail renewal process for those same service members and permits an online one, but a license renewed under that subsection "is valid for a period of one year."

Replacing a license, and moving

A lost or damaged license is replaced for ten dollars paid to the issuing authority (RCW 9.41.070(7)).

Washington law does not require you to update the address on your CPL when you move, and DOL says so directly. DOL describes the voluntary route as the original application process without fingerprinting: complete an application marked for a replacement license and submit it with the replacement fee. DOL also tells licensees who no longer live in the jurisdiction that processed the license to contact the agency in the new one. Nothing in RCW 9.41.070 imposes a duty to report a change of address. The section's address provisions run the other way: subsection (4) puts a residential address on the application, and subsection (9)(b) mails the renewal notice to the licensee at the address listed on the application, or to a new address if the licensee has notified the department of licensing of the change.

When a license is revoked

RCW 9.41.075(1) requires a law enforcement agency to revoke the license immediately upon any of the following:

• Discovery that the licensee was ineligible under RCW 9.41.070 when applying for the license or renewal
• Conviction of the licensee, a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity, or commitment for mental health treatment, for something that makes a person ineligible under RCW 9.41.040 to possess a firearm
• Conviction for a third violation of chapter 9.41 RCW within five calendar years
• An order that the licensee forfeit a firearm under RCW 9.41.098(1)(d)
• Receipt of an order to surrender and prohibit weapons or an extreme risk protection order against the licensee, other than an ex parte temporary protection order

Forfeiture-based revocation is graduated under RCW 9.41.075(3): one year on the first forfeiture, two years on the second, five years on the third or later, with no reapplication until the revocation period ends.

RCW 9.41.075(2) adds a divestment step for a person who was ineligible, was issued a license anyway, and cannot lawfully possess a pistol without one: lawfully transfer ownership of any pistol acquired while holding the license, within 14 days of revocation, with evidence to the agency within 15 days. The agency notifies DOL in writing, and DOL records the revocation (RCW 9.41.075(4)).

Two other paths reach the same place. Under RCW 9.41.047(2), when a court reports a disqualifying conviction, insanity finding, commitment, or one of the incompetency-to-stand-trial dismissals listed in RCW 9.41.047(1)(a), one of which additionally requires a court finding that the person has a history of one or more violent acts, DOL checks whether the person holds a CPL and, if so, "shall immediately notify the license-issuing authority which, upon receipt of such notification, shall immediately revoke the license." A court ordering a party to surrender weapons under RCW 9.41.800(6) also orders surrender of "any concealed pistol license issued under RCW 9.41.070" to the local law enforcement agency.

One rule cuts the other way. RCW 9.41.098(1)(a) makes it an absolute defense to forfeiture of a concealed pistol that the person held a valid Washington CPL within the preceding two years and has not become ineligible in the interim. Before the firearm is returned, the person must pay the past due renewal fee and the current renewal fee.

Offenses tied to the license

The change dated May 1, 2027

2025 c 370 rewrites RCW 9.41.070 effective May 1, 2027, adding a certified concealed carry training requirement with live-fire instruction, a written denial notice with a reconsideration step, and a link to the new permit to purchase in RCW 9.41.121. None of it is in force, and none of it applies to an application filed today. The Washington State Patrol marks its training certification program "Not required until May 2027."

Key statutes