I've got a WA CPL. I've received/bought a few pistols thru FFL I594 and direct FFL purchases. I've done this at a few different FFLs in WA. It seems to me that all of them required me to complete the WA specific pistol form in addition to the ATF 4473.

I was told recently that form is not necessary if the buyer has a CPL.

So obviously I'm confused. Have all the gun stores been wrong and the extra form not necessary? Or is the information I was given wrong?

You were given bad info. The WA DOL Pistol Transfer Application must be filled out, signed, and submitted for every pistol transfer regardless of whether the buyer has a CPL.

I think you are correct. It even has a spot ON the form for a CPL which nullifies the claim that it's not necessary if you have a CPL. That would be a nonsense box to complete.

The pistol transfer form has been a mandatory part of the process since about mid-1994, regardless of the buyer's CPL (or in earlier days their CWP) status.

Goes back to at least 1983.
I remember having to fill one out then along with a 4473.
WA DOL has a list of handguns I purchased years ago and have even forgotten about.

I can't find any legislation with an effective date earlier than 1994 that mandates the use of the pistol transfer form. Do you have a link to something further back than that?

No, but when I went through a divorce DOL had a record of pistols I bought in 1983.
That was also the first year I got a FFL and they had the forms then.

Could the form have been voluntary, or used at the FFL's discretion, prior to 1994? If there's something in the RCW history that shows an earlier mandatory date for use of the pistol transfer form, I'd like to see it.