Hello again everyone. Welcome to Washington Gun Law tv. I am Washington Gun Law President William Kirk. Thanks for joining us. Well, we are at Lifeboat Drill. That is the time of the year where we start preparing for all the horrible pieces of legislation that will be coming through in the 2025 legislative session and hot off the presses, we got yet another one. Yes. This is a piece of legislation which have enacted into law will radically, and I do mean radically change how you can carry firearms in your car. It will also radically and forever alter how you can store firearms in your home. And what it also does is it gets rid of one of the legislative saving graces that was in some previous statutes that was intended to solve whatever problem this intends to solve. So today, let's spend a few minutes and let's talk about the state that knows better about how you should store your firearms.
Okay, so who is today's video sponsor? Taylor Freelance. No, seriously. Who's today's video sponsor? Taylor Freelance. Taylor Freelance. Okay. You realize what Google is going to do to this video if we have Taylor Freelance advertise on this channel. Okay, well, here goes Nothing. Alright. Hey, listen, before we get going too far down the road, we're going down, proud to announce that this video is brought to you by Taylor Freelance. That's right, American owned. American made right there in Bellingham, Washington. They're making some of the best components for your, you know what out there. Now listen, this is normally where I'd put all the cool B roll up and show you all the cool things that they're making up there at Taylor Freelance, but if I do that, well YouTube and Google is going to get a little ticked off at us. But listen, if you just want to know what Taylor Freelance is in a nutshell, it's really this simple.
They do not make your firearm got that Google, they do not make firearms, but they will make your firearm a lot better if you're ready to take your firearm to the next level. If you're ready to customize your firearm so that you are more proficient in it, visit all of our good friends at Taylor Freelance. What? Don't mention their website. Oh yeah, that's right. Thank you. Yeah. Hey, listen for more information, go ahead and click on my partner page right there and there. You'll find the link to Taylor Freelance so you can check out all the cool things that they're doing. For more information, visit my partner page.
Okay, Washington, this is what we're talking about. We're talking about House Bill 1, 1 5 2, sponsored by representatives dog, Leo and Waylon. Never a good thing when their names are on it, and this will radically and forever change how you store firearms both in your automobile and your home, and also alleviates one of the most important and I think effective saving graces. That was in previous legislation. I'm going to try to get through this real, real quick here. Okay. The first thing it does is it changes the way you can store a firearm in an automobile. Now, as you know, if you have a concealed pistol license and you want to leave the firearm unattended in the car, you may do so as long as the firearm is locked away, concealed from view, the car is locked. Nobody on the outside of the car can see that there's a firearm inside the car that is legally permissible until this bill becomes legislation.
Because then as it relates to leaving a firearm unintended in the car, the statute will read as follows. A person shall not store or leave a pistol in any vehicle unless one, the pistol is stored, unloaded in a container that is opaque, locked, hard sided, and affixed within the vehicle. Two, the container is concealed from view from outside the vehicle, and three, the vehicle is locked. Okay, so now you got to have a whole separate container. It's got to be affixed to the vehicle. It's got to be all these other requirements. So your firearm, if let's say you were carrying it in a center console, holster completely concealed for view, would be secured if the car was locked, would have to then be removed from that, placed in a separate container, locked and put into another location of the car because this is all about saving lives.
Now, if you also happen to have rifles or shotguns in the car, there will be new requirements which would read, a person shall not store or leave a rifle or shotgun in any vehicle unless one the rifle or shotgun is stored, unloaded in a container that is opaque, locked, hard sided, or soft sided and affixed within the vehicle. Two, the container is concealed from view from outside the vehicle, and three, the vehicle is locked. Now remember, you can't be storing or even carrying loaded shotguns or rifles in a car in Washington state no matter what. That's been the law for ages. Now, the law would also requires it relates to long guns. A rifle or shotgun stored in a soft sided container in a vehicle in accordance with this subsection must also have a trigger lock or similar device that is designed to prevent the unauthorized use or discharge of the firearm installed on the rifle or shotgun while the firearm is stored in a soft sided container.
And then if any, you say, well, I got these built-in containers, or, well heck in my glove box, actually a hard sided container because it actually is wrong, because the statute would say for purposes of this subsection, a hard sided container excludes a glove compartment or center console, but includes a console vault or other container specifically designed to securely store firearms. Then if you think that's bad enough, unlike the current version of Washington Safe Storage Provision, which specifically states that the law does not mandate how you store your firearms, the law just says that you could be on the hook if you're an idiot about how to store your firearms. This bill, if an enact into law, would actually mandate how you have to store your firearms in your home. Don't believe me, the bill specifically states a person shall not store or leave a firearm in their residence unless the firearm is securely stored whenever it is not being carried or readily controlled by that person or another lawful authorized user.
For purposes of this section, a firearm is securely stored if it is either one locked or disabled using a tamper-resistant mechanical lock or other safety device, properly engaged in order to render the firearm inoperable by any person other than the owner or lawfully authorized user and also kept out of plain sight or two stored within a locked gun safe or similar locked container secure from access by unauthorized users. That means unless the firearm is on your person, it has to be locked away in a safe or it has to have a trigger lock on it. It has no bearing on your absolute living environment. So whether you're living alone in a condominium where there are no kids or grandkids ever running around, where I think you can get away with a lot of different storage options. Or you're living in a home where, yeah, you have kids and grandkids running all over the place all the time, which I think you would need to be hypervigilant about your storing options there, this law will treat all of you the same.
Why? Because Washington State knows best, oh, and by the way, the only firearms that would actually be exempt from this storage requirement would be the ones that you are actually carrying at the time. And what does law mean? Well, this is what it would mean for purposes of this section. Carried or readily controlled means either one, the person or other lawful authorized user is carrying the firearm on their person or two, the person or other lawful authorized users within close enough proximity to the firearm to readily prevent unauthorized users from gaining access to the firearm. Now, a simple violation of this that is just having improper storage will result in a class one civil infraction, but then based upon the types of injuries that could occur based upon an unauthorized person accessing the firearm and then bad things happening can go all the way up to class C felonies in the worst case scenario.
Now, the thing that I am perhaps most critical of in this very, very terrible piece of legislation is the obvious nefarious intent that are clearly designed not to make communities safer. Let me explain how under RCW 9.4 1.360, there was always the great escape hatch, which is if you realize all of a sudden that your firearm had been misplaced, lost or stolen, and I can't tell you how many times I've talked to guys who left their firearm sitting in the stall of a men's room and they come back and it's gone. What was the one way that you could absolutely positively avoid criminal liability? And it's the same piece of advice I gave to everyone who called me all panicked in that situation was contact local law enforcement immediately because the statute specifically stated that if you contacted local law enforcement immediately you could absolve yourself of criminal liability, and one would think, one, that we would want individuals to report that right away so that that particular firearm can be traced.
Or when it turns up at crime scenes, we know exactly where the firearm came from. After all, that is their big argument about why they don't want ghost guns, right? We want to be able to trace everything. So it would seem that immediate reporting would allow for quicker traceability. One would think what this law does is it actually takes that statutory exception. You can see it right here in the statute. You see that and it just strikes it out and says, Nope, it doesn't exist anymore. So now you don't escape any criminal liability by it. You don't absolve yourself of any criminal liability, and in fact, the minute you do report it, what you're basically doing is reporting yourself guilty of a crime so they can assess you with a civil infraction or wait for the firearm to show up somewhere else, turn out to be really, really bad and charge you with something far greater.
Washington. This is a terrible piece of legislation because once again, the state of Washington wants to dictate to you how you should be able to or not able to defend your lives. They want to act as though they are the experts on what it takes to preserve your lifestyle, and they're willing to dictate how you store your firearms inside your own home without any regard for what your individual living situation is. It's a terrible piece of legislation, which means it's likely to gain steam and go somewhere. This legislative session, the house bill once again is house bill 1, 1 5 2. We're going to link it up down below so that you can geek out on it for yourself. Probably going to need to grab some bourbon, do some breathing exercises, or grab a barf bag. If you got any other questions about this or anything else related to what's left of our Second Amendment rights.
You guys should know how to get ahold of Washington gun law by now, but if you don't, that's okay. That information's down there in the description box. If you got an idea for a video we should be doing around here, we want to hear all about it. Click on that link right there and let us know if you want to subscribe to our monthly newsletter. The ability to do all that is right down there in the description box. And then finally, and most importantly, let's remember that part of being the lawful and responsible gun owner, like we talk about all the time here, is to know what the law is in every situation and how it applies to you in any instance that you may find yourself. Until next time, thanks for watching and stay safe.
Credit: William Kirk, Esq., Washington Gun Law