RCW 9.41.171 felony class c washington state, i never use the gun police officers find the gun in my car because my exgirlfriend call 911 and let they know i has a gun in my car and where i was at the moment
RCW 9.41.171 is not equivalent to unauthorized firearm possession under Canadian criminal code because immigration status is an element constituting the offense in the WA statute whereas the Canadian charge is not restricted to a certain class of people. The keywords here "every person commits an offense..etc". For this reason, a conviction under RCW 9.41.171 will not be considered in determining inadmissibility under section 36(2)(b) of the IRPA:
(2) A foreign national is inadmissible on grounds of criminality for
- (b) having been convicted outside Canada of an offence that, if committed in Canada, would constitute an indictable offence under an Act of Parliament, or of two offences not arising out of a single occurrence that, if committed in Canada, would constitute offences under an Act of Parliament;
However this does not preclude a determination for inadmissibility under section 36(2)(c) of the IRPA which deals with the facts of the case alone that is a simple possession of a firearm without a license which constitutes an indictable offense in Canada. Section 36(2)(c) deals with inadmissibility on the reasonable suspicion you committed an offense that would be a crime in Canada, even if you were not arrested or convicted for the offense. However, the section will not apply unless the offense is also a crime in the place where it took place:
(2) A foreign national is inadmissible on grounds of criminality for
- (c) committing an act outside Canada that is an offence in the place where it was committed and that, if committed in Canada, would constitute an indictable offence under an Act of Parliament;
Washington state has a similar statute dealing with unlawful possession of a firearm but instead of requiring a license, it simply describes certain classes of people who are unauthorized to possess a firearm such as people with previous felony convictions, mental health issues, violence or domestic abuse ..etc. These conditions make this offense equivalent as such a person described by the statute is deemed to be unlicensed (not permitted) to possess a firearm. However, this statute does not apply to your case as you are not described by any of the classes at the time you were arrested, and therefore you obviously were not charged with a simple unlawful possession in WA as you did not commit such offense. Moving further ahead to review federal statutes under USC title 18 you will not find an equivalent offense to a simple possession of a firearm except in federal buildings and on foreign missions ..etc which was not your case. Moreover, title 18 has a special section S927 dealing with effect on state law for all firearm related offenses which states that it is not be construed as operating in exclusion of state law unless there is a direct conflict. This means that if local police did not charge you with simple unlawful possession under their own jurisdiction the federal law doesn't care. For this reason the offense may not be considered even under section 36(2)(c) of the IRPA.
If I were you I would gather all documents, get a legal opinion from an immigration lawyer in Canada and use that to submit a "for info" rehabilitation application. Then use the decision letter in any future application if it was favorable or appeal it with the help of an immigration lawyer. There is no need to wait 5 years.
I think you have been fortunate enough to benefit from the very liberal gun laws of the United States in your case, as almost every country in the world has strict firearm licensing except for maybe Yemen. Also, the fact that you didn't steal the firearm, conceal it, or used it in any bad way was very crucial in your case as you wouldn't have had an excuse due to your immigration status.
In the end, if ordinary Americans do what you have committed and then travel to Canada without issues why should you be any different?
Good luck!