Starting May 1, 2027, anyone in Washington state who wants to buy a gun will first have to pay the state $126 for a permit-to-purchase, before they’ve bought a single firearm or round of ammunition.
The Washington State Patrol will issue the permit. Of the $126 fee, $90 covers the permit itself and $36 pays for a fingerprint background check, according to confirmation the agency gave to Ammoland.
That $126 isn’t the full cost of entry, either. Applicants must also pass a state-certified safety course before they can get the permit, and that means paying out of pocket for training, ammunition, range time and travel. Radio host Jason Rantz, who first flagged the new fee, put it plainly: “Course fees, ammunition, range time and travel all come out of the buyer’s pocket on top of the $126.”
This new paperwork-and-cash hurdle lands on top of a gun control regime that Everytown for Gun Safety, the Bloomberg-funded group, already ranks as the ninth-strictest in the country. Washington residents already live under universal background checks for handgun purchases, a ten-day waiting period, a concealed carry permit requirement, a red flag law, mandatory storage rules, a ban on so-called assault weapons, a ban on
