Posted on 04/26/2023 9:12:49 AM PDT by Twotone
BELLEVUE, WA – Responding quickly to the adoption of House Bill 1240 by the Washington Legislature and Gov. Jay Inslee signing it into law, the Second Amendment Foundation today filed a federal lawsuit challenging the new statute on Second and Fourteenth Amendment grounds, and is asking the court for preliminary and permanent injunctions.
The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The case is known as Hartford v. Ferguson. Joining SAF are the Firearms Policy Coalition, Sporting Systems, a Hazel Dell retailer, and three private citizens, Brett Bass, Douglas Mitchell and Lawrence Hartford, for whom the case is named. They are represented by Seattle attorney Joel Ard.
Named as defendants are Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, State Patrol Chief John R. Batiste, Kitsap County Sheriff John Gese and County Prosecutor Chad M. Enright; Kittitas County Sheriff Clayton Myers and County Prosecutor Greg Zempel; Clark County Sheriff John Horch and County Prosecutor Tony Golik, and Snohomish County Sheriff Adam Fortnoy and County Prosecutor Jason Cummings, all in their official capacities.
“The State has enacted a flat prohibition on the manufacture, sale, import and distribution of many types of firearms, inaccurately labeled as ‘assault weapons,’ which are owned by millions of ordinary citizens across the country,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “In the process, the state has criminalized a common and important means of self-defense, the modern semiautomatic rifle. The state has put politics ahead of constitutional rights, and is penalizing law-abiding citizens while this legislation does nothing to arrest and prosecute criminals who misuse firearms in defiance of all existing gun control laws. It is absurd.”
He noted that SAF already has two legal actions in progress, challenging Washington gun laws. One lawsuit concerns the magazine ban and the other challenges the ban on sales of semiautomatic rifles to young adults.
“The hysteria manufactured by the authors and supporters of this legislation is rivaled only by the false characterization of the banned firearms as ‘weapons of war,’” SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut, added. “As we note in our complaint, the firearms that Washington bans as ‘assault weapons’ are, in all respects, ordinary semiautomatic rifles. To the extent they are different from other semiautomatic rifles, their distinguishing features make them safer and easier to use. But even if they are considered as a separate group of ‘assault weapons,’ they cannot be banned because they are not dangerous and unusual.
“We will take this case to the highest court in the land, if necessary,” Kraut added. “This sort of legislative demagoguery cannot be allowed to stand.”
Ping, good sir.
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Can't wait to see one of the dumbest governors in all America, Jay Inslee's head explode after an injunction is in place.
He made a major media event of the bill signing yesterday, a real tyrant.
Good luck, I hope you’re successful in Washington. I’m in Illinois, and our Governor here is not a friend of the Second Amendment, either.
Yep. Closed the Crapital and campus (except for his select invited lackeys) as he feared gun violence around the signing of his bozo bill. The press was limited too.
This is how totalitarian countries are made. It never happens overnight. You take citizens rights away a little piece at a time. Than one morning you wake up and ask “Wha hoppin?” And then it’s too late.
The State of Washington Constitution includes:
“The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself, or the state, shall not be impaired...”
Dems in WA are openly rejecting the rule of law.
The WA Const. offers more protection to gun rights than the US Constitution. It does the same for privacy rights.
The State of WA Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the WA Const. gives more privacy rights than the US Const. and imposes more restrictions of law enforcement regarding searches, wire-taps, etc. than the US Const.
It will interesting to see how the WA Supreme Courts twists itself into knots to say “but guns are different...”
2A Ping!
The common theme is always the anti-gunners using tax payers money to drain the legal resources of pro gun groups. They don’t care if they lose, they’ll just pass another stupid law; the goal is to keep us in court draining the coffers.
The Sierra Club & other environmental groups made big bucks suing the federal gov’t over environmental laws, & then having the gov’t pay those groups when they won. Why don’t the same rules apply to 2A cases?!
Good question, but I’ve never heard of it, but that doesn’t mean they don’t get reimbursed sometimes. Mostly what I alway hear is the tons of money they get from donors who appreciate what they’re doing.
good
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