Hi, as the title asks… assuming they both have their CPL’s, is a married couple allowed to use guns that were acquired individually, prior to marriage? If not, what needs to be done? Thanks!!

I'm not giving legal advice, but think you are good to go.

RCW 9.41.113
Firearm sales or transfers—Background checks—Requirements—Exceptions.
(4) This section does not apply to:
(a) A transfer between immediate family members, which for this subsection shall be limited to spouses, domestic partners, parents, parents-in-law, children, siblings, siblings-in-law, grandparents, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, first cousins, aunts, and uncles, that is a bona fide gift or loan;

/endthread

Wait...define
"Bona fide gift or loan"
What is a non-bona fide gift?
Is it a loan if no collateral and/or interest?

The RCW must have been written by a bunch of fucking monkeys.
I actually told that to Dan Satterberg when I worked for the AG's office.
Think he was one of them.

"Bona fide" is latin for "good faith."
It means a loan or gift made in good faith.
So you can let your wife use or carry the gun you bought in your own name as long as you are doing so in good faith and not just loaning or gifting it to her to skirt some kind of law.

wait, gifting is exempt, as long as it is bona fide.
one can also transfer to anyone, as long as
"(c) A temporary transfer of possession of a firearm if such transfer is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to the person to whom the firearm is transferred if:
(i) The temporary transfer only lasts as long as immediately necessary to prevent such imminent death or great bodily harm; and
(ii) The person to whom the firearm is transferred is not prohibited from possessing firearms under state or federal law;...."

So this can a grey area… just depends on several factors.



Question and you don’t have to answer.
I-594 effective Dec 2014

Were these guns bought before this date?
Yes? Answer is you can just say they were given or sold to spouse so it’s hers. Clear. No grey area.

If they were after Dec 2014.
Answer - they were gifted clear and simple to her. It’s hers. Done as cited above posts.

You can even go to the extreme of transferring with an FFL and it’s Clear above all legal grey issues it’s hers.

I don't think the purchase date matters, does it?

Either way, you can loan guns back and forth between spouses (and other family members as listed), legally, per the RCW cited above.

It doesn't. Any transfers done between spouses are paperwork-free anyway.

There's a lot of law that's grey. I don't think this is one of them. Seems pretty cut-and-dry.

As long as you are gifting (you give up ownership rights) or loaning (you retain ownership) in good faith (not trying to skirt some other law somehow), then transfers between immediate family members do not have to be facilitated by a dealer.

Remember, transfers are a change of possession, not necessarily of ownership. See the abovementioned "loan."

+1 on monkey bunch.

In my family we freely gift and loan. No strings makes everything bona fide.

CPL or not. I don't think CPL has anything to do with transfers, loans or gifts.

Agreed. CPL only determines whether you can carry a handgun concealed or in a vehicle.

Yes you can share a firearm with your spouse for concealed carry purpose, open carry purpose, hunting purpose, shooting purpose, looking at purpose, cleaning purpose, touching purpose, holding down papers on a desk purpose. Don’t overthink the RCW that is what people do with the BATFE and it forces agencies to reply, which makes the agency overthink it too.

You’re fine. Stop there and enjoy.

Yes and no. Mostly no it really doesn’t. But someone was questioning and it gets muddled by extraneous BS.

But to be totally clear with no grey area or someone to question intent and gifting etc.

If a firearm was purchased before Dec 2014 and given or sold or whatever legally back then - there is no grey area for anyone to question. Doesn’t even matter if she had CPL back then. So long as she was able to own a firearm and boyfriend or friend or husband or whatever believed they were good to go. The gun belonged to her.

So just a point of clarification. Mostly the date no longer matters and the vast majority falls into post 594. But for a few of applied can be totally clear regardless of 594.


That was my point about Dec 2014.

Why would you even care?

"Allowed" Seriously?

It's time to stop thinking this way, people.