Quote of the Day
On Dec. 1, 2025, Washington reported 706,046 active CPLs. On April 1, that number had plummeted to 696,015. The alarming decline has been explained by many gun owners, saying they’ve either left Washington for more Second Amendment-friendly environs in Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma and elsewhere, while others have decided to carry without a CPL because they refuse to pay the state to exercise their right to bear arms, which is specifically protected by both the state and federal constitutions.
Dave Workman
April 3, 2026
Wash. CPL Numbers Decline; Gun Owners Flee, Others Refuse to Renew – TheGunMag
I think the Washington state gun laws will be straightened out by the Federal courts in less than five years. But the taxes and crime situation will probably continue to deteriorate. So, with that in mind I am working on an escape plan. I can’t leave right now because I need to save up money for retirement. Underground bunkers in Idaho are expensive.
The underground bunker be completed soon (only a few more days of work). I will then start counting the days until I can retire and have the option to leave Washington state as well.
Are you thinking of fleeing the tyranny of your state too? I’m giving free tours of my underground bunk to people attending Boomershoot this year (the first weekend of May). It would give you something to think about…
I’ve been thinking about it for a few years. Economic realities are prohibitive. Retirement? Uh, well… those economics again. TN looks nice, except that it’s become a destination state too.
The Federal courts will never sort out the unconstitutional gun laws in WA or anywhere else. They already did that with Bruen and the leftist states responded with nullification which was upheld in lower courts. What is the Supreme Court supposed to do: Say “and this time we really mean it”. The nullifiers know that isn’t true and will keep modifying laws to stay one step (five years) ahead of the Supremes until such time as the Left takes control again. (I question whether they have ever lost control.
They could, theoretically, hold lower courts or legislatures in contempt of court and lock them up for fine them personally for blatantly violating the higher rulings, but yes, it’s unlikely.
Between taxes, regulations, increasingly hostile and insane woke culture, changing population mass immigration via tech H1B / illegals / homeless, horrible traffic, corruption of the courts, election fraud, unwillingness to understand founding documents, and mandate madness, this is not a place I want to stay, and not a good place for my kid to start a family in.
But it does have some jobs, which both the wife and I, and both the kids, have. The problem then becomes where can all of us move where the wife and I can retire and the kids can get reasonable jobs in their fields and start families close enough where we can help with raising them? ID is at the top of the list, but exactly where is still a question.
I’m praying that something like the SAVE Act or an EO will force honest, in-person, one-day, with ID, counted-on-the-spot-by-hand elections with prompt and reasonably trustworthy (and different than typical) results this fall.
My wife and I spent our first 60 years or so growing up in Minnesnowta, and then working and living there. We were in the Heart of the Hive™ of SW Minneapolis. My wife retired early, not able to take the political-correctness of her workplace, but I kept working…there were only three companies in the world producing what I designed, so I didn’t have many options without starting from scratch.
When I retired we started looking for a lake home outside the 7-county metro area of the Twin Shitties but couldn’t afford anything. My wife’s little saying was, “You can have a house on a good lake; you can have a house on the good side of the lake, and you can have a good house. We can only afford two out of three.” The New Effing Yorkers and KKKalifornicators had driven the price of good lakeshore so high that you could buy a foot of high-quality stranded pearls for less than a foot of lakeshore. Just crazy.
So we gave up entirely and moved to Tiny Town™ here in NW Wyoming; instead of lakeshore we’ve got what we call “mountainshore”. The culture is one of independence and self-reliance rather than criminal/dependency. Best of all there’s a low tax level (no income tax, and low sales tax and vehicle tabs). I can also share ammo with the neighbors rather than having to shoot 3 out of 4 of them if the S ever HTF. Yes, we lived in Ilhan Elmi/Omar’s congressional district and 3/4’s of our neighborhood voluntarily ushered her into office and corruption.
Even though Wyoming has (open) constitutional-carry I got my carry permit, mostly for travel to other states. It’s the gun-friendliest place I’ve ever been, and it’s remarkable to me (coming from hoplophobic MN) to walk into a doctor’s office, take off my shirt, and have the new nurse exclaim, “Oh, what kind of 1911 is that you’re carrying?”
We couldn’t be living here if we were trying to work for a living, and the price of housing has basically doubled in the past 6 years (thank the Biden-cabal, kids). We’ve got good health care available, and if we need a specialist Big City™ is just a 2-hour drive away. I don’t think that there is any reason I’ll return to the Soviet Socialist State of Minnesota.
Unless the Federal Courts start actually upholding the Constitution AND punishing all the bureaucrats and apparatchiks who violate it NOTHING will change. And I don’t see that happening. In fact I see things getting worse as more and more communists infiltrate, subvert and suborn the Federal judiciary.