I was dumb when I was young but now I wanna fix it.

Ok so here's the deal... when I was under the age of 18, I did alot of stupid things... shoplifting, stealing, traspassing... somewhere along the line, I managed to commit a single nonvilolent felony. I'm now 34, have had no problems what so ever since I was 16. Now I want to get my first gun but that felony is the only thing holding me back. After doing a whole bunch of research, I know what the requirements are for restoring my rights in washington state... the problem is, I have been getting conflicting information from court officials and lawyers alike... I don't have the money to hire a lawyer but I would really appreciate it if there was somebody that has experience with this sort of situation and can share what they have experienced or if there was a lawyer that could give reliable info.

If you ate planning on spending money on an firearm then I suggest you save for a while and spend it on an attorney first.

If you are not patient enough for that approach then I wish you the best.

Were you tried as an adult? I thought juvenile records were sealed once one reached the age of 18? If that is the case then while would a felony conviction as a minor make a difference?

+1 on the attorney

You will likely need a lawyer to write up your request and to ensure it is submitted properly.

I'm going to go a different route than the others in this thread. I was in you exact situation just a few months ago and got my rights restored without so much as a phone call to an attorney. What county do you live in, if it's Spokane I can give you every single detail you need. If not I can still give you some good information. The total cost to get mine taken care of was around $300. Most of that was filing the petition for restoration of gun rights, then some for certified copies, background check, and that might have included my CPL cost too. Let me know what county and I can help you out.

My entire juvenile criminal record is contained in Kitsap county. I however live in Pierce county. Kitsap county says I need to pay a $240 filing fee in order to process my patition to restore my firearms rights due to the felony. It will cost me another $52.50 to apply for my consealed weapon permit. These are the definite costs that I know about. This does not include travel costs since I have to travel from Pierce to Kitsap county without a car of my own... I must take public transportation. The court clerk at the Kitsap county superior court said that all I needed was a printout from the washington state patrol WATCH website background check thing which cost me $10.

If you know it will cost $240 for the form to file, get an appointment with a lawyer and negotiate a flat fee, that way you get help filing it right and generally can have a lawyer do the required court appearances. I had to file a petition in court for an issue and it was way easier to meet a lawyer at a convenient time than meet court schedules since it ended up being multiple dates. Especially if you are in a different county than your issue.

I just had a good friend and a board member get their rights restored a few months ago. Neither used a lawyer and their felony's were non-violent and didn't include a gun. Here is just a bit of information I know you need. A copy of your conviction. Petition filed showing the conviction and a back ground check verifying it was the last one. You get an appointment and show up. In their cases, it was all Pierce County. Try calling the county clerk and asking for a little advise. They will usually point you in the right direction.

With that being said, I had a soldier get convicted of Grand larceny. Him and another soldier took a running Cab-Ulance for a joy ride one night. Arrested, convicted, thrown out of the Army too. He had a lawyer do all the filing for him and had his rights restored in a matter of one month. It had been 10 years since his conviction. It cost him $1K+. If he was here he could have did it all himself.

I am not sure what you did, but it must have been a real doozy. I was living in Kitsap County when my brother and I done soem real crazy crap. It involved a BB gun and lots of moving vehicles. Yes we got caught, we did not goto juvie but we did have to do 80 hours of comunity service. We were tolsd that once we turned 18, our records would be destroyed and as far as I know, they were. I joined the military at age 17, the criminal check came back negative. I have held several different security clearances from secret, top secret, classified and so on. However, if it came down to it and it was not clear. I would do what I could to make sure my records were clear. We all make mistakes, we just need to fix it and move on. Having your rights taken from you cause of a mistake you made sucks bad, but to be able to get them back, wel you can't put a price on that.

well,,,

many have come here asking this question.
lots of guys had troubles as minors.
felons cant own a gun, and they cant vote.

do you,,, can you vote?

if you can vote,,, you probably are NOT a felon...

1245A Defender said:

many have come here asking this question.
lots of guys had troubles as minors.
felons cant own a gun, and they cant vote.

do you,,, can you vote?

if you can vote,,, you probably are NOT a felon...

Click to expand...

I'm not totally sure but I got a hunch it's a lot easier to get one's voting rights restored than gun rights.

In the end, it's going to be whatever is in the records accessed by NICS for firearm purchases. He may have the "rights" but if their records show a felony that can queer a purchase.

Yes, one can do it themselves but an attorney may well be worth the expense.

amlevin said:

I'm not totally sure but I got a hunch it's a lot easier to get one's voting rights restored than gun rights.

In the end, it's going to be whatever is in the records accessed by NICS for firearm purchases. He may have the "rights" but if their records show a felony that can queer a purchase.

Yes, one can do it themselves but an attorney may well be worth the expense.

Click to expand...

Felons do vote, I have seen known felons in line at poll stations when I voted. I have had more than a few acquaintances that were felons that said they vote. I guess since they are felons they don't care if they get caught. Besides getting gun rights back, OP should consider getting the records expunged.

Grim_Night said:

My entire juvenile criminal record is contained in Kitsap county. I however live in Pierce county. Kitsap county says I need to pay a $240 filing fee in order to process my patition to restore my firearms rights due to the felony. It will cost me another $52.50 to apply for my consealed weapon permit. These are the definite costs that I know about. This does not include travel costs since I have to travel from Pierce to Kitsap county without a car of my own... I must take public transportation. The court clerk at the Kitsap county superior court said that all I needed was a printout from the washington state patrol WATCH website background check thing which cost me $10.

Click to expand...

Spend the $240 first. If you are still disqualified to possess a firearm when you apply for the concealed pistol permit (Washington does not issue concealed weapon licenses) then your $52.50 will be wasted and your application will be denied.

thebigsd said:

Were you tried as an adult? I thought juvenile records were sealed once one reached the age of 18? If that is the case then while would a felony conviction as a minor make a difference?

Click to expand...

Look at question 11 c on the 4473

Have you ever been convicted in any court of a felony, or any other crime, for which the judge could have imprisoned you for more than one year, even if you received a shorter sentence including probation?

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It doesn't limit itself to crimes committed as an adult.
The instructions say that if the person has been pardoned, or the conviction expunged or set aside, or their civil rights restored, they're not prohibited.

DeltaOps said:

I am not sure what you did, but it must have been a real doozy. I was living in Kitsap County when my brother and I done soem real crazy crap. It involved a BB gun and lots of moving vehicles. Yes we got caught, we did not goto juvie but we did have to do 80 hours of comunity service. We were tolsd that once we turned 18, our records would be destroyed and as far as I know, they were. I joined the military at age 17, the criminal check came back negative. I have held several different security clearances from secret, top secret, classified and so on. However, if it came down to it and it was not clear. I would do what I could to make sure my records were clear. We all make mistakes, we just need to fix it and move on. Having your rights taken from you cause of a mistake you made sucks bad, but to be able to get them back, wel you can't put a price on that.

Click to expand...

The records are not destroyed at 18. Records can be sealed or expunged, but they will exist forever. Depending upon whether they are sealed or not depends upon who can view them at a later time and under what circumstances. A judge will be able to see them, and depending on the circumstances a prosecutor may be able to see them as well.

As far as security clearances go, just because you shot a BB gun at cars does not mean you will not receive the highest clearance. What you describe is not a trust issue. Crimes related to trust issues will have a greater impact upon security clearances than other more minor issues.

1245A Defender said:

many have come here asking this question.
lots of guys had troubles as minors.
felons cant own a gun, and they cant vote.

do you,,, can you vote?

if you can vote,,, you probably are NOT a felon...

Click to expand...

I can vote. Washington law I believe it is, states that a felon cannot vote during the time they are imprisoned *and* on probation/parol(sp). but once their time is served, they get those rights restored automatically. As for my gun rights, those were automatically taken away at the time of the conviction/ajudication. The washington state consealed weapons license application specifically asks if you have ever been convicted of a felony as an adult or juvenile and washington state law says you cannon own any firearm with those same requirements.

As for getting my records expunged, I plan to do that and it will only cost me $75 but I have to get my rights restored first because if I don't, the process of getting my rights restored will undo the process of sealing my records -_- which is just mind boggling...

Now for the kicker which is nice for me... once I have my court hearing and I get my rights restored, I can then take a certified copy of the judgement to the LESA with my application for a consealed weapons permit and even if they do still come back with something that says I can't have it, the judgement will nullify it

Difdi: "(Washington does not issue concealed weapon licenses)" http://www.dol.wa.gov/business/firearms/faconcealreq.html <~ please rethink that statement lol (ha! reread that and understood your meaning... in my mind, CPL, CWP, and all the other things like that all mean the same thing...)

Double check with Pierce County that you can't file for restoration there if that's where you currently live. We have people all the time who live in Spokane now but their conviction was in another county or state. We also have people who file their own petitions all the time without hiring an attorney. Not to take bread off the table of my brothers and sisters at the bar but this is one situation where you really can do it yourself.

The Spokane County Superior Court website has all the forms you need here: http://www.spokanecounty.org/superiorcourt/content.aspx?c=1105. They are downloadable in Word format so all you need to do is change the name of the County to Pierce or Kitsap in the heading. Check the Pierce or Kitsap Superior Court websites as they may have their own forms.

You can set up your own hearing date (Note For Hearing Form should be available on-line) and you can find out what day(s) motions are set from the court's websites. In Spokane these are heard on Friday mornings but each county is different. Just be sure to give whichever prosecutor's office plenty of notice. There's a minimum amount of time required under the local rules - - give them more. Also, check with them a couple of days before your hearing date. If all i's are crossed and t's dotted they may sign off on an agreed order (we do all the time here in Spokane).

Yes listen to that man .^ Lammo is the one that pointed me in the right direction. And you can seal your records first. That's what I did and when I talked to the prosecutor he said he wouldn't bother unsealing them for the restoration process. I would talk to the prosecutors office in the county you are planning to do it in.

Update...

Thank you Lammo for your help. After doing some further research in attempting to restore my rights... I started to fill out the paperwork to petition the courts to restore my rights on RCW 9.41.040. I needed a certified copy of my complete criminal record from the Washington State Patrol. Called them up this morning and the lady I talked to told me flat out that they have no record at all of my past. I explained to the helpful lady what I was doing and she kindly informed me that I had no need to waste my time or money with that method of restoring my rights. It seems that under RCW 13.50.050 http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=13.50.050 I simply need to have my records sealed and that will make it as if nothing ever happened. And as proof I found this to even back it up. http://caselaw.findlaw.com/wa-court-of-appeals/1182711.html

I welcome anybody to review these facts and share their opinons. This seams fairly clear cut at this point.

Grim_Night said:

Thank you Lammo for your help. After doing some further research in attempting to restore my rights... I started to fill out the paperwork to petition the courts to restore my rights on RCW 9.41.040. I needed a certified copy of my complete criminal record from the Washington State Patrol. Called them up this morning and the lady I talked to told me flat out that they have no record at all of my past. I explained to the helpful lady what I was doing and she kindly informed me that I had no need to waste my time or money with that method of restoring my rights. It seems that under RCW 13.50.050 http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=13.50.050 I simply need to have my records sealed and that will make it as if nothing ever happened. And as proof I found this to even back it up. http://caselaw.findlaw.com/wa-court-of-appeals/1182711.html

I welcome anybody to review these facts and share their opinons. This seams fairly clear cut at this point.

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Opinion: spend $500 +- and hire a lawyer to take care of this for you (one who is familiar with this sort of issue).