Truck Guns in WA State

[Dan31]

I've been hearing the term truck guns for a while now and I'm wondering about the laws regarding them. I'm actually building my truck from the ground up and it will have a custom interior, I was thinking along the lines of that Tactical Walls company where an AR15 case is built into my truck and locked with those rare earth magnets. Now what about loaded magazines? Do I need to keep those in a locked container that is not withing easy reach of the driver? Is there a limit to how many can be carried? I'm having my tank relocated to behind the axle and building a toolbox storage behind that, that should be far enough away I think.

By the time I have the truck done I will also have my carry permit. Just for more info I live in the furthest eastern edge of King County.

 

[rickyrick]

The term truck gun comes from places like Texas where it's not illegal to have a loaded rifle in your car. People that frequent farms and ranches keep a rifle handy in case they happen upon a predator.

In Washington it's illegal to have a loaded rifle in your vehicle.

(5) For purposes of subsection (1) of this section, a rifle or shotgun shall not be considered loaded if the detachable clip or magazine is not inserted in or attached to the rifle or shotgun.

 

[kilimanjaro]

You can't carry a loaded long gun in a vehicle, it's illegal. Can't hunt from a road, either.

So that leaves you with an unloaded long gun. You're better off with the pistol carry.

And unless you live in Lester or Greenwater, you're butting up against the timber company tracts or the watersheds. Lots of people around, it's just hard to see them through the trees.

There's no limits on loaded magazines, but they had better be in a separate container and not available. I have seen one person arrested by a game warden for the loaded rifle infraction, the magazine was on his person, the LEO and prosecutor said that was 'constructively loaded'. I don't know if he was convicted or not.

 

[44 AMP]

I have seen one person arrested by a game warden for the loaded rifle infraction, the magazine was on his person, the LEO and prosecutor said that was 'constructively loaded'. I don't know if he was convicted or not.

Game laws and transportation laws can be different, even contradictory.

And overzealous officials abound many places.

The transportation law clearly states its not loaded if the loaded mag isn't in the gun. There is no requirement in WA to have the gun and ammo in separate inaccessible containers. So far, that I know of, NOT a lawyer, advice worth what you pay for it, etc.

A Game law might require something different, I don't know.

Other places DO consider the gun loaded even when the mag is out. A wonderful legal fiction.

 

[hartcreek]

I got burned by this years ago as it was legal at one time to carry a rifle or shotgun loaded in your vehicle if you had a CCW. I got ticketed before the regs were even in the law libraries. If you want a truck gun in Washington state it has to fall under the pistol regs so AR or AK pistol or similar is the baddest you can get.

Dan visibility does not matter legality does. I am a person of disability legally I can hunt from what ever vehicle I am in as long as I pull my vehicle off to the side of the road and shoot from that side only not across the roadway. Once I am done shooting I have to empty my rifle or shotgun to again drive.

Conservation Officers will ask you sooner or later and if you get pulled over and a vehicle search is done you will be cited.

In my case I was hunting. I had stopped 15 minutes earlier to pay a call of nature visit so I grabbed my hundred year old Winchester. After my call of nature I got back in my truck and drove up the road and was stopped by a Forest Service Law Enforcement officer......The 94 did not have a round chambered but rounds in the tube and the legislature had just amended RCW 9.41 a few weeks before. The only place that I found the amended statute was online and this was back in the day that the net was in its infancy I had to access it at college still it is your responsibility to keep up with the legal changes.

Carried empty you will be OK but it will be useless locked up when and if you need it. I have been working at the cabin and just driving down the cabin road to get a load of rock encountered bear and people that did not belong.

 

[Dan31]

Well for one thing it wont be visible since the case will be built into the sub box/head unit that goes across the back wall covered in carpeting and the other it will not be carried loaded. Its an emergency use gun only and the magazines will be locked in a container 8 feet away under the bed floor which it in itself will be locked.

 

[gyvel]

It galls me to see the changes that have taken place in this country.

In the days of yore, it was very common to see pickup trucks with gun racks in the rear window holding a Winchester or some such. In fact we used to make fun of them sometimes.

 

[44 AMP]

Carried empty you will be OK but it will be useless locked up when and if you need it.

I won't argue with that. But I think some are blurring the line between a "truck gun" and a defensive weapon.

The truck gun is a rifle, carbine or shotgun, "carried onboard", so it is available when the opportunity arises to legally take game or control predators/ pests. Its not there to repel boarders at a moment's notice, though it will work for that if the situation allows.

It is carried in them vehicle unloaded (chamber empty ALWAYS!!!) for SAFETY reasons. If the law requires the entire gun to be empty of ammo, in order for it to be legally "unloaded", then that's the way you do it.

(semi autos with detachable magazines make this simple and easy).

The truck gun (or trunk gun) in your truck, car, boat, plane, is there so it can be there. So you don't have to go home to get it, then come back to where you want to use it. You stop, get out, get the gun, load it, and then go after what it is you are hunting.

Hunter safety has, for GENERATIONS taught how stupidly unsafe and dangerous it is to have a loaded rifle or shotgun in your vehicle. They used to show kids actual photos of people killed because of an accident with a loaded gun in a car, etc. REAL DEAD PEOPLE, real blood, real gruesome reality. Pictures that (in the 70s) were too graphic to show on TV or print in the news.

I don't know if they still do this or not, but they used to. Chamber empty makes it safe, physically. Laws go further, on purpose.

The loaded pistol in a console or glove box etc., is a different matter. It's NOT a "truck gun", even though it may be in your truck. It is a "nightstand gun", that just happens to be in your truck. Loaded and ready, not on your person, in a reasonably accessible storage location. Just like your bedside night stand drawer.

Today, this is only legal in some places, with the proper permits, and in some places its not legal at all, and to have a loaded gun in your vehicle it has to be on your person.

The truck gun is the rifle, carbine or shotgun, or handgun carried onboard to be available for sporting use. Not as a primary defensive weapon.

A handgun (or other gun) carried for defensive use should be called something else.

 

[carguychris]

Minor footnote...

The term truck gun comes from places like Texas where it's not illegal to have a loaded rifle in your car.

Be aware that is IS illegal in TX to have a loaded and unlocked firearm of any type in any place where it is accessible to a child. This is found in Penal Code § 46.13.

I know that TX law is not the main topic of this thread, but I like to repeat this to ensure that TX residents and travelers in our great state are not caught unawares, since the unqualified statement that "truck guns are totally legal in TX!!" seems to be parroted often on the Interwebz.

(AFAIK when this law was passed, gun-control advocates in the Legislature wanted to outlaw "truck guns" outright along with passing several other similar "safe storage" measures, but this provision was passed as a compromise.)

 

[rickyrick]

Yes, a truck gun is not a "going to town" gun.
A truck gun is an out in the country gun usually while performing agricultural work. Mine was never chambered, most of the time the mag was out but accessible.

Since moving to Washington, I don't partake in any agricultural activities, exposed truck guns would be illegal in the essence of a useful truck gun, so they are cased on the way to any plinking that I do.

 

[doofus47]

44AMP:

Other places DO consider the gun loaded even when the mag is out. A wonderful legal fiction.

Wait, wait, wait..
What? I can't even begin to wrap my head around that sentence.

I don't want to get into the weeds, but can you give me more details about this?

 

[Doc Intrepid]

"If you want a truck gun in Washington state it has to fall under the pistol regs so AR or AK pistol or similar is the baddest you can get."

This.

AR/AK pistols are the only "quasi-" long-guns you could legally carry in your truck loaded in the state of Washington, because when you buy one (thanks to 594) these are now explicitly registered by the state as a 'pistol'.

Even then, for all the reasons .44 AMP provided its a really bad idea to keep one loaded in your vehicle.

It takes what, ~3 seconds? to insert a magazine into the magazine well and pull back and release the bolt charging handle.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

""Well for one thing it wont be visible since the case will be built into the sub box/head unit that goes across the back wall covered in carpeting and the other it will not be carried loaded. Its an emergency use gun only and the magazines will be locked in a container 8 feet away under the bed floor which it in itself will be locked."

If this, then you comply with all WA state laws re: carry of long guns in vehicles. (That I'm aware of.)

But with the rifle locked in one case, and the magazines locked in a separate container located under the bed floor, that really doesn't meet the definition of what most folks mean when they say "truck gun". Most folks mean something that can be brought into battery a mite more quickly.

 

[44 AMP]

44AMP:
Quote:
Other places DO consider the gun loaded even when the mag is out. A wonderful legal fiction.

Wait, wait, wait..
What? I can't even begin to wrap my head around that sentence.

I don't want to get into the weeds, but can you give me more details about this?

It's not too far out into the weeds, its something you need to know, about whatever the law actually IS where you live and where you travel.

Physically a gun is not loaded if there is no ammo in it. BUT, there are jurisdictions that consider a gun loaded if you have the capacity to PUT ammo in it.

You, the gun, and the ammo, (loaded mag or loose rounds in a box) all together in the same compartment of the vehicle = loaded gun under the law in some places. I believe the concept is "constructive possession". You have all the components and the ability to put them together, so the law treats it like you DID put them all together, and punishes accordingly.

The fact that you didn't actually put them together doesn't matter to the law, the fact that you COULD HAVE is the violation.

Places like that require separate locked containers in order to legally transport the weapon and ammo. Some go even further, each place is a little different. Check you local laws CAREFULLY!!!

But with the rifle locked in one case, and the magazines locked in a separate container located under the bed floor, that really doesn't meet the definition of what most folks mean when they say "truck gun". Most folks mean something that can be brought into battery a mite more quickly

There you go, adding that "a mite more quickly" doesn't mean instantly (like a defensive handgun) just fairly quickly.

 

[FAS1]

AR/AK pistols are the only "quasi-" long-guns you could legally carry in your truck loaded in the state of Washington, because when you buy one (thanks to 594) these are now explicitly registered by the state as a 'pistol'.

Mounted behind the seat?

 

[kilimanjaro]

Legal or not, getting pulled over with that shorty secreted behind your seat is going to get you examined microscopically by first one, then several, officers.

 

[hartcreek]

No it wont kilimanjaro because in Washington State the drivers lisences are linked with lisence plates and with the CWP so the officer knows if you have a CWP when you are pulled over.

 

[NINEX19]

No it wont kilimanjaro because in Washington State the drivers lisences are linked with lisence plates and with the CWP so the officer knows if you have a CWP when you are pulled over.

Do you have first hand knowledge of this? I do not think this is true for several reasons.
I have had officer contact at least three times (traffic stops, where I was asked for ID) in the last 15 years that I have have my CPL. Not once has the officer asked if I had a weapon or CPL.

What is a CWP? In WA we are issued a CPL.

 

[hartcreek]

NINEX

First hand knowledge and when I renewed my CWP the last time the form I used in Yakima county required a drivers lisence number. I know for a fact with my dealings with colector vehicles that lisence plates are also linked to drivers lisences as well as hunting and fishing lisences.

You just might have encountered officers that lacked computer skills.

I just pulled my current one out of my wallet and the space under the City space is Drivers Lisence number or state ID.

CWP CWL same thing just depends on specific legislation cited.

 

[Buzzcook]

When I was a kid it was expected that a pickup would have a rifle rack. Not so much now, mostly because an rifle is now a too expensive items to leave in plain sight.

As others have said, in Washington ammo and gun are to be carried separately. The exception is a handgun if you have a concealed carry permit.

I wonder if a permit would change the rules on a loaded long gun. Doubt it, but the OP might want to check that out.