By Dave Workman
The number of active concealed pistol licenses in Washington state has taken a sharp turn downward over the past four months, according to data provided to TGM by the state Department of Licensing, and part of the reason may be gun owners are fleeing the state due to increasingly restrictive gun laws.
On Dec. 1, 2025, Washington reported 706,046 active CPLs. On April 1, that number had plummeted to 696,015. The alarming decline has been explained by many gun owners, saying they’ve either left Washington for more Second Amendment-friendly environs in Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma and elsewhere, while others have decided to carry without a CPL because they refuse to pay the state to exercise their right to bear arms, which is specifically protected by both the state and federal constitutions.
One man commented, “I don’t renew until 2028, I don’t plan on being a resident of this state in 2028. Most of the Republicans are too liberal for me in this state.”
Another stated, “No point in following the law when the politicians can’t.”
A third said, “I won’t pay to rent freedoms that I already have. You wanna be a fudd? Have fun with that. It’s submission to tyranny like this that has us in this position in the first place.”
The Evergreen State has a long tradition of gun ownership, and prior to 2014, when anti-gun billionaires started backing restrictive gun control initiatives—some of whom have fled the state apparently to escape the rising taxes and recently-passed “millionaire income tax”—the state was known for its reasonable gun laws. Washington was among the first states in the nation to adopt a preemption law, placing all authority for gun regulations in the hands of the legislature.
Last August, the state boasted more than 713,000 active CPLs, but that was before the beginning of what now appears to be a mass exodus of weary taxpayers and embattled gun owners to other states. Idaho, Montana, Arizona, Texas and Florida appear to be top destinations for people who can afford to move and are willing to uproot their families and find new jobs in those states.
One former Washingtonian wrote, “I moved to Oklahoma and don’t need one (carry license). I also will just carry without one from now on.”
Last December, the Daily Olympian, which serves the state’s capital city, reported that Washington “is among the top states losing taxpayers the most frequently on net from interstate migration.”
“The Evergreen State says goodbye to another taxpayer every 29 minutes and 55 seconds,” the newspaper reported, “ranking No. 43 in the nation, per data published Nov. 24 by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF) that shows how fast taxpayers are entering or leaving each state.”
Whatever else gun owners may be, they are taxpayers, and with far-left Democrats controlling the legislature, taxes and spending continue to rise, and discouraging gun ownership with restrictive laws is high on their list of priorities.
The most egregious gun control laws are being challenged in court. One case, challenging the ban on so-called “large-capacity magazines,” is seeking review from the U.S. Supreme Court. Another case, challenging the ban on so-called “assault rifles,” is stalled at the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Workman is editor-in-chief at TheGunMag.com
