Commissioner Michael Johnston of the Washington State Supreme Court has opted to extend the legal injunction continuing halting a Cowlitz County judge's decision to deem the state's large-capacity magazine ban unconstitutional.
The state's ban on selling magazines with more than 10 rounds continues, as the case moves to higher courts.
Johnston initially granted the legal pause on April 8, and is continuing the ban because he is "concerned that the superior court’s decision would trigger a flood of LCMs (or large-capacity magazines) entering state circulation," he writes in his decision.
On Tuesday, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a request with the state Supreme Court to bypass the appeals court and take the case directly. The request is currently pending.
During the brief window between Cowlitz County Judge Gary Bashor's unconstitutional ruling and the legal pause, Gator's Custom Guns sold large-capacity magazine for 88 minutes, according to the store's owner Walter Wentz.
William McGinty of the Washington State Attorney General's Office said during last week's hearing that firearms retailers around the state were selling the item "as soon as they possibly could."
Gator's Custom Guns, the Kelso firearm retailer at the heart of the case, gained attention for its sale of those aftermarket accessories after the state ban went into effect in 2022. This prompted Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson to file a lawsuit alleging that the store and its owner intentionally violated the Consumer Protection Act by unlawfully offering over 11,400 high-capacity magazines to the public.
Gator's Custom Guns also filed a declaratory judgment action against the state before the attorney general's suit, alleging the ban costs the store money and infringes on Wentz’s rights to bear arms under the state and federal Constitution.
Wentz told The Daily News in March he would take his case to the United States Supreme Court if necessary.
Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge Gary Bashor lifted the ban earlier this month, finding it violated the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Washington Constitution.
McGinty also stresses that, besides being a public health issue, if the legal pause were to have been dissolved, it would cause irreparable harm to the state's case. He highlighted the state's ongoing efforts to vindicate the constitutionality of the ban while firearm stores were selling the item at "breakneck speed," thereby reinforcing the importance of the court's decision.
Austin Hatcher of Mead's Hatcher Law (and who is also part of Pasco’s Silent Majority Foundation) is representing Gator's Custom Guns and argued in favor of dissolving the emergency stay because "all the state has is speculative harms," and the stay affects a citizen's right to bear arms.
