A 10-day waiting period for all gun purchases in Washington state went into effect January 1, 2024.
FOX 13 reported the 10-day waiting period was part of 2023’s House Bill 1143.
The new law also “requires people to go through training before they can buy a gun,” Apple Valley News Now noted.
State Sen. Patty Kuderer (D) supported the 10-day waiting period and the training requirement, saying, “The sad fact today is that over half of suicides are committed with a firearm. There are very few do-overs when a gun is used and that’s why Mr. President, this cooling off period that’s in the bill is so critically important.”
State Sen. Lynda Wilson (R) disagreed, noting, “There may be a mom with a couple of little girls and in a serious domestic violence situation. If even she finds the instructor, and if she can afford the class, and if she can get into one of those classes that don’t exist today — she will still have to wait another 10 days after the purchase of the firearm to protect herself.”
HB 1143 initially also brought a third requirement to bear on would-be gun purchasers by mandating a gun license in order to buy a firearm. However, that aspect of the bill was dropped as it moved through the legislature.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at
