(The Center Square) – A federal judge has ruled in favor of the state of Washington in a lawsuit seeking to overturn a 2022 ban on gun magazines deemed “high capacity.”
In a news release, State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said that “Washington state is undefeated in court against challenges to Washington’s common-sense firearm safety laws. My office wrote this law. It is constitutional. It will save lives. I look forward to continuing to successfully defend it.”
The lawsuit filed by the Silent Majority Foundation initially in Yakima County Superior Court called on the U.S. Court’s Eastern District of Washington to issue a preliminary injunction against the 2022 law, which it argued was unconstitutional. The 2022 law banned the sale of gun magazines that had the capacity hold more than 10 rounds, which the state argued are “military-style weapons” and “dangerous and unusual,” making them fall outside Second Amendment protections.
The preliminary injunction would have blocked the law’s implementation until the case is ultimately settled.
In her ruling, Judge Mary K. Dimke noted that to receive a preliminary injunction the plaintiff must demonstrate that they are likely to succeed on the merits of their claim, that they would suffer irreparable harm if the law were to be implemented, and that it’s in the public interest to do so.
Much of Dimke’s ruling centers around where or not magazines constitutes “arms” as mentioned in the Second Amendment, and whether they are in common use today, two litmus tests used in recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that overturned state or local gun control laws.
Dimke concluded that the plaintiff failed to provide sufficient evidence to make its case for a preliminary injunction.
“The Court must insist that there be a historical record in order to make a determination on the meaning of the word ‘arms’ as used in the Second Amendment. Specifically, whether ‘arms’ includes magazines, or large capacity magazines.”
Silent Majority Foundation Director/General Counsel Pete Serrano said in a video that “we did believe we had adequate evidence. There was information, there was data.”
Dimke’s ruling also called for the plaintiffs and defendants to file by Oct. 13 a joint status report that includes experts who could appear to testify.
One recent court case plaintiffs are likely to present moving forward is a U.S. District Court ruling that overturned a California state law that also banned gun magazines with 10 rounds or more.
Similar lawsuits have also been filed against the 2022 magazine ban. In August, a group of plaintiffs including the Second Amendment Foundation and Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc. filed a suit against the law in the U.S. District Court’s Western District of Washington.
