County Makes Guns In Pickup Racks Legal Again

It’s legal once more for residents in the unincorporated areas of Spokane County to carry hunting rifles in the gun racks of their pickups.

County commissioners voted Tuesday to exempt the county from a state law that places restrictions on the transportation of firearms.

No one opposed the action.

The law states that no one may carry a gun on his person or in his car unless it is unloaded and enclosed in an opaque or secure wrapper.

Officials from the county Sheriff’s Department and the Spokane Police Department have said the law duplicates many other firearms restrictions and is hard to enforce because there are 13 exceptions to it.

People who carry a gun while hunting, haul a gun on their own land or take their firearm to a repair shop are among those exempted from the rules.

The law, which also provides a provision for cities and counties to opt out of the rules, went into effect in June 1994.

The state Legislature passed the law because a man living in the Seattle area used to carry a hunting rifle around his neighborhood, which frightened his neighbors.

Commissioner Steve Hasson agreed with the local law enforcement perspective.

“I think it’s confusing,” Hasson said. “I don’t think it does what it says it will do.”

Commissioner Phil Harris sought to deflect potential criticism of lifting the restriction, which he too said was extraneous.

“We’re not giving anyone a privilege here,” Harris said. “(Carrying a gun) is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.”