How to Sell a Gun in Washington State: Dealer, Checks, Fees

To sell a gun in Washington State, you and your buyer must meet at a federally licensed firearms dealer, who runs a background check on the buyer and holds the firearm for at least ten business days before releasing it. That rule applies to almost every private transfer, including sales, gifts, trades, and loans, with only a handful of narrow exceptions. Handling it correctly protects you from criminal charges and keeps the firearm out of the hands of someone who can’t legally have it.

The Dealer and Background Check Requirement

Washington’s universal background check law, passed by voters as Initiative 594 in 2014, requires nearly every private firearm transfer to go through a federally licensed firearms dealer, commonly called an FFL. You cannot simply meet a buyer, take cash, and hand over the gun. Both of you must go to the dealer’s place of business and complete the transfer there.¹

The word “transfer” is defined broadly. It covers sales for money, but also gifts, trades, and loans. If you hand a firearm to someone who isn’t an immediate family member receiving a genuine gift, that’s a transfer that requires a dealer and a background check.²

The dealer processes the transfer as if selling the firearm from their own inventory. They collect the buyer’s information, submit the background check through the Washington State Patrol’s Secure Automated Firearms E-Check (SAFE) system, and hold the firearm until every legal requirement is satisfied.³

Narrow Exceptions to the Dealer Rule

A handful of situations let you transfer a firearm privately. The exceptions are narrow, and getting one wrong exposes you to criminal charges.

Gifts and Loans Within Immediate Family

You can give or lend a firearm to an immediate family member without a dealer or background check, as long as it’s a genuine gift or loan and the recipient isn’t prohibited from possessing firearms. Washington limits “immediate family” to spouses, domestic partners, parents, parents-in-law, children, siblings, siblings-in-law, grandparents, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, first cousins, aunts, and uncles. A friend who feels like family doesn’t count. A sale to a family member, even to your own child, still requires a dealer.²

Antique Firearms

Antique firearms are exempt from the background check requirement. Under federal law, an antique firearm is generally one manufactured in or before 1898, along with certain replicas that use non-conventional ammunition. A genuine antique can be transferred privately.²

Temporary Transfers

The law allows a few temporary transfers without a dealer, so long as the person receiving the firearm isn’t prohibited:

Handing your firearm to someone at an established, authorized shooting range.
Lending a firearm to someone who holds all required hunting licenses and is hunting legally.
A transfer immediately necessary to prevent serious harm, and only for as long as the danger lasts.
Taking temporary possession of another person’s firearm to prevent self-harm, with no use by anyone during that period.

Each of these lasts only as long as the specific situation demands. Handing a friend your rifle “for a while” without a fitting reason is still an illegal transfer.²

What to Bring to the Dealer

Both parties need to show up with the right documents, or the dealer can’t process the transfer.

As the seller, bring the unloaded firearm and a valid government-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license. Know the firearm’s make, model, caliber, and serial number, since the dealer will need that information for the paperwork.

The buyer needs a valid government-issued photo ID showing their name, date of birth, photograph, and current residential address. If the ID doesn’t include a current address, the buyer can supplement it with another government-issued document that does, such as a vehicle registration or voter identification card.⁴

The buyer will complete ATF Form 4473, the federal Firearms Transaction Record, which asks about personal information, citizenship status, and a series of eligibility questions covering criminal history, mental health, and other disqualifying conditions.⁵

How the Transfer Works at the Dealer

Once you deliver the firearm to the dealer, they have possession and are legally responsible for it until the transfer completes or falls through.

After the buyer fills out Form 4473 and any state-required forms, the dealer submits the background check through the SAFE system to the Washington State Patrol. The system checks the buyer against state and federal databases for disqualifying records.³

Even when the check clears the same day, the dealer cannot release the firearm to the buyer until ten business days have passed from the date the check was requested. Business days exclude weekends and holidays, so the calendar wait is often two full weeks or more.⁶

Once the check is approved and the ten business days have passed, the dealer releases the firearm. The buyer pays you for the firearm and pays the dealer a separate service fee. An approved background check is valid for 30 days from the date it was initiated; if the buyer doesn’t pick up the firearm within that window, the dealer must run a new check.⁷

If the Check Is Delayed or Denied

A “delayed” status means the system needs more time. Federal law requires a wait of at least three full business days, not counting the day the check was initiated, weekends, or holidays, before the transfer can proceed on a delayed status. Many Washington dealers wait for a definitive response instead. The state’s ten-business-day period runs the whole time, so a federal three-day delay is usually absorbed inside the longer state window.

A “denied” status means the buyer failed the check and cannot receive the firearm. The dealer will not complete the transfer, and you’ll need to retrieve your gun. If the buyer believes the denial is wrong, the appeal is theirs to file, not yours.

Fees You and the Buyer Will Pay

The dealer charges a service fee for processing a private transfer. Washington law allows a fee that reflects the fair market value of the dealer’s administrative costs and effort, with no statutory cap.³

Most dealers charge somewhere between $20 and $75, though pricing varies. Call ahead. Some dealers also charge storage fees if the buyer takes a long time to pick up the firearm after the waiting period ends.

Extra Rules When You’re Selling a Semi-Automatic Rifle

If the firearm is a semi-automatic rifle, the buyer faces stricter requirements. Washington defines a “semiautomatic assault rifle” as any rifle that uses energy from a fired cartridge to chamber the next round and requires a separate trigger pull for each shot. That definition sweeps in common sporting rifles like the Ruger 10/22, not only military-style platforms.⁸

The buyer must be at least 21. No one may sell or transfer a semi-automatic rifle to a person under 21.⁹

The buyer must also show proof of completing a recognized firearms safety training program within the past five years. The training must cover basic safety rules, secure storage, suicide prevention, safe handling, and state and federal firearms law. Programs offered by law enforcement agencies, colleges, or nationally recognized firearms training organizations qualify.¹⁰

The dealer verifies all of this. You don’t enforce the rules directly, but knowing what your buyer needs saves everyone a wasted trip.

You Cannot Sell the Magazine If It Holds Over Ten Rounds

Washington prohibits selling, distributing, or offering for sale any ammunition feeding device that holds more than ten rounds, even as part of a firearm package. Violating the ban is a gross misdemeanor.¹¹

If your firearm came with a magazine over that capacity, you’ll need to keep the magazine, sell it to a dealer for transfer out of state, or dispose of it. Possessing magazines you already own is not prohibited, but selling them to another person inside Washington is.

Buyers You Cannot Legally Sell To

The background check is designed to catch prohibited buyers, but you should know the basics so you don’t knowingly hand your firearm to someone who can’t legally have it. Knowingly selling to a prohibited person is a serious federal crime carrying up to 15 years in prison.¹²

Federal law bars firearm sales to anyone who has been convicted of a crime punishable by more than a year in prison, is a fugitive, is an unlawful user of controlled substances, has been involuntarily committed to a mental institution, is subject to certain domestic violence protective orders, or has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, among other categories.¹³

Washington adds its own prohibited categories. State law bars firearm possession by people convicted of certain domestic violence misdemeanors, including fourth-degree assault, stalking, harassment, and cyberstalking when committed against a family member or intimate partner. Anyone currently subject to a protection order, no-contact order, or extreme risk protection order is also prohibited.¹⁴

If something feels off about a buyer, they’re evasive about basic questions, want to pay in a way that hides the transaction, or a third party seems to be directing the purchase, trust your instincts and walk away. A “straw purchase,” where someone buys on behalf of a person who can’t pass a background check, is a federal felony.

Penalties for Skipping the Process

Selling outside the rules carries real criminal consequences. A first violation by either the seller or buyer is a gross misdemeanor. Each subsequent offense is a Class C felony. Every individual firearm transferred in violation counts as a separate offense, so three guns sold without background checks means three separate charges.¹

These penalties apply when the violation is “knowing.” Ignorance is not much of a defense in practice, since the requirement has been in place since 2014 and is widely publicized.

Selling a large-capacity magazine is a separate gross misdemeanor, charged independently of any background check violation.¹¹

When Regular Selling Turns You Into a Dealer

Offloading a gun from your personal collection now and then doesn’t require a federal license. But if you regularly buy and resell firearms intending to earn a profit, federal law considers you “engaged in the business” of dealing, and you need a Federal Firearms License before making sales.¹⁵

A 2024 ATF rule clarified that intent to “predominantly earn a profit” is the key factor, and you don’t need to have actually turned a profit to be treated as a dealer. Selling firearms from a genuine personal collection is treated differently from buying guns specifically to resell them. The line isn’t fixed at a specific number of sales per year; the ATF looks at the overall pattern of conduct. If you’re flipping firearms regularly, consult an attorney or apply for an FFL before your next transaction. Dealing without a license is a federal felony under 18 U.S.C. § 922.¹³

1
Washington State Legislature. Summary of Initiative 594
2
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 9.41.113 – Firearm Sales or Transfers – Background Checks – Requirements – Exceptions
3
Washington State Legislature. Chapter 9.41 RCW – Firearms and Dangerous Weapons
4
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ATF Ruling 2001-5 – Identification of Transferee
5
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Updated ATF Form 4473 – Firearms Transaction Record (August 2023 Revisions)
6
Washington State Legislature. RCW 9.41.092 – Licensed Dealer Deliveries – Background Checks
7
Federal Bureau of Investigation. NICS Federal Firearms Licensee Manual
8
Washington State Legislature. RCW 9.41.010 – Definitions
9
Washington State Legislature. RCW 9.41.240 – Possession of Pistol or Semiautomatic Assault Rifle by Person From Eighteen to Twenty-One
10
Washington State Legislature. Chapter 9.41 RCW – Firearms and Dangerous Weapons – Section: RCW 9.41.090
11
Washington State Legislature. RCW 9.41.370 – Large Capacity Magazines – Exceptions – Penalty
12
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Don’t Lie for the Other Guy
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 922 – Unlawful Acts
14
Washington State Legislature. RCW 9.41.040 – Unlawful Possession of Firearms – Penalties
15
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Final Rule – Definition of Engaged in the Business as a Dealer in Firearms