By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
A Federal Way, Washington gun shop and its former owner have agreed to pay a $3 million fine for selling so-called “high-capacity magazines” after a law prohibiting such magazines in the state took effect.
In a press release, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who is running to become the state’s next governor, said, “Federal Way Discount Guns chose to violate a critical law aimed at combating mass shootings. Washington businesses are following the law and stopped selling high-capacity magazines. This resolution provides accountability for someone who flagrantly violated the law and will increase law enforcement resources to combat gun violence.”
Ferguson’s office investigated Federal Way Discount Guns after the magazine ban was enacted July 1, 2022. After that date, according to Ferguson’s press release, the store sold 3,625 high-capacity magazines, capable of holding more than ten cartridges. Ferguson filed suit later that year, and a King County judge ruled that the store and its then-owner Mohammed Baghai violated the law. Baghai has since sold the store to his son, according to the release. The elder Baghai has moved out of state.
During the investigation, undercover investigators were able to purchase the following:
- A 50-round drum magazine
- two 30-round magazines for an AR-15 style rifle
- a 33-round magazine for a Glock 17 pistol
- a 22-round Glock pistol magazine
- a 19-round magazine for a Glock 19 pistol
- a 17-round magazine for a Glock 17 pistol
- a 17-round magazine for a Glock 19 pistol
- a 17-round magazine for a Sig Sauer P229 pistol
The investigation was described as part of a wider sweep which included visits to gun stores in Benton, King, Pierce, Snohomish, Spokane, Thurston and Yakima counties.
The store’s website includes a link to a crowdfunding page where visitors find this message: “We’re asking for donations that will help us to continue to stand up against Bob Ferguson and his team’s aggression as they relentlessly go after our 2nd amendment rights.”
Washington’s magazine ban is currently facing federal court challenges, including one filed by the Second Amendment Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition and others, but the case is stayed while a similar case filed against California’s magazine ban—Duncan v. Bonta—is awaiting a ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Washington is part of the Ninth Circuit. A second federal lawsuit challenging Washington’s ban was filed in federal district court in Spokane.
Ferguson’s office is also pursuing similar actions against Gator’s Guns in Kelso.
Ferguson, a Democrat, has been publicizing his office’s recent victories, presumably as a boost to his gubernatorial campaign. However, it has gotten him into some political trouble when he started sending” refund” checks to Washingtonians following the settlement of a lawsuit against poultry suppliers. Many of those checks reportedly went to people who had moved out of state or were dead. Critics have called the checks “chicken checks,” and many recipients have apparently been forwarding the money to the campaign of Ferguson’s chief opponent, former Congressman and King County Sheriff Dave Reichert. He is best known as the sheriff responsible for the arrest of the notorious “Green River Killer” Gary Ridgway.
