(The Center Square) – The Washington Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday morning in a high-profile gun rights case that may ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The case involves a Kelso gun store owner challenging a law that went into effect on July 1, 2022, prohibiting the sale, attempted sale, manufacture, and distribution of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. The state sued Gator’s Custom Guns for continuing to sell high-capacity magazines in violation of the law.
In April, a judge in Cowlitz County found the ban violates the state and federal constitutions. For a little more than an hour, Gator’s Custom Guns and other gun stores rushed to open their doors and sell as many high-capacity magazines as possible.
Some 90 minutes later, the state Supreme Court granted the state’s request for a stay on enforcing the ruling while it appealed the lower court decision.
As Tuesday morning’s arguments began in a packed courtroom at the Temple of Justice in Olympia, Wally Wentz, owner of Gator’s Customs Guns, sat in the front row of the courtroom behind his attorneys with the Silent Majority Foundation.
Solicitor General Noah Purcell went first in arguing on behalf of the state in making his case before the nine members of the state’s highest court.
“This court should uphold Senate Bill 5078 and reject the extreme view that states are powerless to regulate tools of mass killing,” he said.
Purcell explained that limiting the number of rounds a magazine can hold does not make a firearm inoperable, arguing that the magazine itself is not protected as an “arm” by the state constitution.
“There is no firearm that requires a large-capacity magazine to operate,” Purcell said, going on to note the state can’t ban other components of guns, like a trigger, as that would make them inoperable. “Magazines are not arms, and the state can still regulate them.”
He noted that high-capacity magazines and firearms have been used in mass shootings.
Attorney Austin Hatcher with the Silent Majority Foundation argued on behalf of the gun store.
“The Washington constitution plainly guarantees the right of an individual to keep and bear arms,” he said, explaining that a magazine is an integral part of the firearm, which could not operate without it.
According to the state constitution, “The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself, or the state, shall not be impaired.”
Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis interrupted Hatcher to ask if semi-automatic weapons can still operate without high-capacity magazines.
“Is that required for any of these arms to function?” she asked.
“Capacity isn’t a requirement to make the magazine function as intended,” Hatcher replied.
He argued that the magazine itself is an “arm” protected by the federal and state constitutions.
“They are owned in the tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, throughout the country, and they are essential to the functioning of the most popular type of weapon platform, the AR-15, as well as semi-automatic rifles and handguns,” Hatcher said.
Arguments lasted about 45 minutes.
Afterward, Wentz and SMF founder Pete Serrano shared their thoughts with The Center Square.
“I think this is going to be a really good opportunity for the court to delve into what … it really [thinks] about the Second Amendment and Article 1 Section 24 of the Washington constitution,” Serrano said, adding he thought the line of questioning from the justices seemed balanced.
Wentz said he had been warned by his attorneys not to show any emotion during arguments.
“It was a struggle a couple of times,” Wentz admitted. “I’m happy with where it landed. I saw an impartial cast of justices there, and I really didn’t have a lot of confidence I was going to see that.”
William Kirk, president of Washington Gun Law, has followed the case closely from day one and was in the courtroom Tuesday.
He told The Center Square that a case likely to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court could determine the outcome of the Gator’s case.
“There’s a case called Ocean State Tactical versus Rhode Island, which is a challenge to that state’s magazine ban. It’s identical to the case here, and if the U.S. Supreme Court accepts review of that, we will hear argument on it later this year,” Kirk said. “In that case I think the Washington Supreme Court will stay the outcome of this case and wait for guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Kirk said the U.S. Supreme Court is conferencing on Friday, Jan. 17, to consider whether to take on the Rhode Island case.