The Washington State Supreme Court upheld a temporary legal pause on Monday morning that stopped the sale of large-capacity magazines in Washington state. This came after a Cowlitz County judge in April found that the state ban violated the U.S. and Washington Constitutions in lawsuits involving Gator’s Custom Guns, a gun store in Kelso.
The motion to change the pause that Gator’s Custom Guns’ lawyers made was turned down. This means that until the case is heard by the state Supreme Court, it is still illegal to sell high-capacity magazines (magazines that hold more than 10 bullets) in Washington state.
Based on Judge Gary Bashor’s decision on April 8, there was a legal window of about an hour to buy the aftermarket parts until Washington State Commissioner Michael E. Johnston gave the state’s request for a pause, which is called a stay in legal terms, on Bashor’s decision.
The state Supreme Court will hear the whole case, which will decide what will happen with the 2022 high-capacity magazine ban in the state. In June, the court bypassed the Washington State Court of Appeals and granted direct review.
Why does the break keep going?
The court thought about whether to change the July 10 stay on Bashor’s decision.
The order says that the court is keeping the ban in place because some questions need to be answered. Many courts have upheld the constitutionality of bans on high-capacity ammunition magazines, even after Bruen, which said in 2022 that people have a constitutional right to carry a handgun outside of their homes for self-defense.
The order says that Bashor’s decision is mostly based on Bruen’s. In his own decision, argues that gun laws need to be “consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
Since Bashor’s decision, there have also been changes in rulings about gun rights. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court said in the case of Rahimi that people who are subject to domestic abuse restraining orders should not be able to have guns.
The court says that not enforcing the ban would put lives at risk. They did not agree that enforcing the ban violates Washingtonians’ constitutional rights since the law’s legality is still being called into question.
After the state ban went into effect in 2022, Gator’s Custom Guns continued to sell high-capacity magazines. The Kelso shop and the state of Washington then sued each other.
The store was charged with breaking the Consumer Protection Act by the Washington State Attorney General’s Office for selling thousands of large-capacity mags to the public. In their lawsuit, Gator’s Custom Guns also said that the rule violated the rights of their owner, Walter Wentz, under the Second Amendment.
