Judge rules WA ban on sales of high-capacity magazines unconstitutional; high court issues stay

A Cowlitz County Superior Court judge ruled Monday that the state’s ban on sales of “high-capacity” magazines is unconstitutional.

In a news release from Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Monday, Ferguson called the decision to grant the injunction “incorrect” and added that his office filed an emergency motion seeking to halt the ruling with the Washington State Supreme Court.

Not soon after the motion was filed, Ferguson announced that the Washington State Supreme Court affirmed the state’s motion to stay.

If the stay had not been granted, firearms dealers in the state would have been able to sell high-capacity magazines again as the case worked its way through courts.

The clerk of the court is “directed to issue a briefing schedule and set a date for oral argument on the emergency motion for a stay,” Supreme Court documents noted.

Democratic Washington lawmakers passed the ban on magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds in 2022.

In September, the AGO filed a lawsuit against Gator’s Custom Guns in Kelso after the dealer continued to sell the banned magazines. Attorneys for Gator’s called the ban unconstitutional in their defense.

“Every court in Washington and across the country to consider challenges to a ban on the sale of high-capacity magazines under the U.S. or Washington Constitution has either rejected that challenge or been overruled,” Ferguson said in the release. “This law is constitutional. It is also essential to addressing mass shootings in our communities. This law saves lives, and I will continue to defend it.”

In a video posted to Twitter Monday, Washington Gun Law President Bill Kirk commented on the injunction, calling it “good news.” While he encouraged viewers to “go now” to shop at local independent firearms dealers while the injunction is in place, a spokesperson for the AGO told McClatchy in an email that the call to action was outdated since the stay was granted.