Carry into a 'convention center'

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My wife and I were reading through the WA state firearm laws to refresh our memory and we both noticed something interesting.

RCW 9.41.300 (2)b:
"Restricting the possession of firearms in any stadium or convention center, operated by a city, town, county, or other municipality, except that such restrictions shall not apply to: (i) Any pistol in the possession of a person licensed under RCW 9.41.70 or exempt from the licensing requirement by RCW 9.41.60"

IANAL, but that doesn't state that if you have your CPL that you have to conceal carry if you go into a 'convention center'. I remember something about a city was trying to get one of the open market places declared a convention center, and it seems that under RCW 9.41.300 they can only restrict people from open carrying if they do not have a CPL. If you have a CPL you can open carry into a convention center anyways.

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You are correct on that assesment if you have a cpl u can open carry there thats how I read thatplus if its a public building state law overrides city codes. just my assement anyway.:celebrate

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Just as long as the convention center is not privately owned.

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Or "operated" by a private concern. IANAL.

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Agent 47 wrote:

Just as long as the convention center is not privately owned.

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It can be owned by the municipality but if it is operated by a private company then they can ban firearms.

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Beat ya by one minute. I win, joeroket! :lol::lol:

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I was talking in response to a recent post about a city(redmond, or something) trying to get their town center declared a convention center.

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quentusrex wrote:

I was talking in response to a recent post about a city(redmond, or something) trying to get their town center declared a convention center.

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Well in that case if they succeed then they would effectively limit OC and CC to CPL carriers.

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quentusrex wrote:

I was talking in response to a recent post about a city(redmond, or something) trying to get their town center declared a convention center.

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Why? Redmond Town Center is a shoppingmall.

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expvideo wrote:

quentusrex wrote:

I was talking in response to a recent post about a city(redmond, or something) trying to get their town center declared a convention center.

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Why? Redmond Town Center is a shoppingmall.

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Probably because they think they can ban firearms if it is a declared a convention center.

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Back to the original question, the answer is No. That's because this section doesn't ban "open carry", it bans "possession of firearms" unless you're in one of the exempt categories of people (CPL holders being one of those categories.)

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quentusrex wrote:

IANAL, but that doesn't state that if you have your CPL that you have to conceal carry if...

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IANALE, but I don't think there's anything anywhere in WA code that says you must conceal under any given circumstance. The law only says that in order to conceal you must have a CPL in your possession, and other parts of the code say if you have a CPL you are exempt from certain restrictions.

So, in other words, the answer to your question is "no", you don't have to conceal.