By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
At the same moment a Seattle-based gun prohibition lobbying group was preparing for a press event to promote gun control in Washington state and nationally, the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation filed a federal lawsuit challenging a new state law banning so-called “high-capacity” magazines.
The case is known as Sullivan v. Ferguson. The 18-page complaint was filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
SAF is joined by the Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc., a California-based group; Rainier Arms, LLC and a private citizen, Gabriella Sullivan. They are represented by attorneys David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson and William V. Bergstrom with Cooper & Kirk PLLC in Washington, D.C., Cody J. Wisniewski at the Mountain States Legal Foundation, and locally by Joel Ard at Ard Law Group.
The lawsuit names state Attorney General Bob Ferguson as the main defendant. Ironically, he was scheduled to be a headliner at the gun control event.
Other defendants are Washington State Patrol Chief John R. Batiste, King County Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall, Kitsap County Sheriff John Gese, Grays Harbor County Sheriff Rick Scott, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, Kitsap County Prosecutor Chad M. Enright and Grays Harbor County Prosecutor Katie Svoboda.
Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5078 was passed earlier this year and signed by anti-gun Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee. It will limit magazine capacity for semiautomatic rifles and pistols to 10 rounds. It was pushed through by a Democrat majority in the Legislature.
While the magazine capacity limit is promoted by gun prohibitionists, there is no indication such a prohibition is an effective tool against violent crime. Armed criminals don’t obey any other gun control law, so there is no expectation they will comply with this one, gun rights activists contend.
“We’re asking the court to declare Washington’s ban on original capacity magazines to be unconstitutional under the Second and Fourteenth amendments,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “We want an injunction against the state because this ban criminalizes something that is common in a majority of states, and also leaves law-abiding Washington citizens more vulnerable to attack by ruthless criminals.”
Magazines holding more than ten rounds are considered standard equipment for semi-auto rifles and many brands of semi-auto pistols.
“Such firearms are legally owned by Washington residents,” Gottlieb said. “As we note in the lawsuit, there is no reliable proof that restrictions on new manufacturing or sales of such magazines will reduce violent crime. This law unfairly and arbitrarily penalizes honest citizens for crimes they didn’t commit, in the hopes of preventing crimes they wouldn’t dream of committing.”
