The Washington State Department of Licensing is seeing a surge in applications for concealed carry permits for firearms.
“At the end of June 2025, there were 709,334 Washington residents with an active concealed pistol license,” noted DOL Communications Consultant Rob Wieman in an email to The Center Square. “That represents a month-over-month increase of 1,410 statewide.”
Wieman said the one-month increase is the largest seen to date.
“It’s not unusual for numbers to rise from one month to the next. It’s also not unusual for them to go down,” he explained. “Numbers historically fluctuate and stagnate at various points in time.”
At the end of 2024, the DOL reported that there were 700,623 active CPLs in the state. That means more than 8,700 people in Washington obtained a concealed carry permit in the first six months of 2025.
“That is an indication to me that there’s a lot of concern out there about personal safety,” said Dave Workman, editor-in-chief of TheGunMag.com. “We see stories almost daily about violent crime. We don’t have a gun problem in this state; we have got a gang problem, and I’m not too sure that the authorities are able to handle that or keep it under control.”
Workman told The Center Square he believes the passage of House Bill 1163, which requires a permit to purchase a firearm in Washington, is a significant factor in the recent surge in CPLs. Washington’s permit-to-purchase a firearm law goes into effect on May 1, 2027.
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Author: Ray Hilbrich
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