WA Supreme Court ruling on constitutionality of magazine ban to be issued next week

Apr. 17—Washington Supreme Court Commissioner Michael Johnston did not make a decision Wednesday after hearing oral arguments over his motion to continue a state ban against purchasing magazines holding more than 10 rounds, which stems from two Cowlitz County Superior Court cases.

The ban is still in effect.

A decision on whether to continue a pause on last week’s ruling by Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge Gary Bashor, who found the law unconstitutional, could come early next week, Johnston said, with possible appeals in the summer and oral arguments in the fall, depending on the outcome.

Kelso’s Gator’s Customs Guns alleges in a lawsuit against the state that the 2022 ban on larger capacity magazines costs the store money and infringes on owner Wally Wentz’s rights to bear arms under the state and federal Constitution.

In a countersuit, the Washington state Attorney General’s office says the store broke the law when selling those higher capacity magazines to undercover state workers during the ban, which is intended to protect Washingtonians from mass shootings.

The Allen Street shop again sold such magazines for a little over an hour April 8 from the time Bashor issued his ruling — which briefly legalized the higher-capacity magazines — to until Johnston issued the legal pause.

Wednesday’s debate

Johnston questioned Wednesday why Gator’s filed its lawsuit against the state a year after the state ban took effect. Austin Hatcher of Pasco’s Silent Majority Foundation, who is representing Gator’s and Wentz, explained the expenses behind such litigation.

Johnston also asked Hatcher if he agreed with Bashor’s claims in his ruling that there is no societal problem around an increase in mass shootings.

Austin said in a statement to the court, and also during Wednesday’s hearing, that no mass shooting using higher capacity magazines has ever occurred in Washington state. Johnston replied that Washington state doesn’t have “a forcefield” around it, meaning mass killings with such higher capacity magazines are possible.

William McGinty, representing the state Attorney General’s office, added that the most deadly mass shootings across the country have included using the higher capacity magazines.

Gator’s lawsuit says the store is allowed to sell the banned accessories to people outside Washington state because the state Attorney General has no rights outside Washington.

In a Friday response to the emergency petition, the Silent Majority Foundation also questioned why the state banned the sale of larger capacity magazines, but not possession, which is allowed if people previously purchased them legally. That means people are still at risk of the state’s claim of mass shootings using the accessories, so the law and the state’s arguments for the ban don’t add up, the foundation argues.

The Attorney General however writes in a recent court document that large-capacity magazines are not weapons and are not necessary to use a gun, so the after-market accessories are not protected by the Washington State Constitution.

On Wednesday, Johnston also said magazines are an “essential component to a semi-automatic weapon,” but the firearms still work with five or 10 rounds, and not just when using the banned higher capacity magazines.

Hatcher asked if Johnston would like a 30-round magazine if a crazy person, complaining about one of his decisions, came knocking on his door. Johnston said he’d have a 12-gauge shotgun with four or five rounds.

“I don’t buy this idea that you need to have, you know, an AR-15 or … something with 15, or 30, or whatever rounds,” Johnston said.

Matt Esnayra is a news reporter for The Daily News covering public safety in Cowlitz County.