SEATTLE — A King County judge last week ruled against a Federal Way gun shop owner who sold high-capacity magazines despite a state ban.
The judge’s decision granted state Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s motion for partial summary judgment, finding Federal Way Discount Guns and owner Mohammed Reza Baghai in violation of Washington’s Consumer Protection Act for illegally selling high-capacity magazines. The decision came after Ferguson sued the shop and Baghai, and after another King County judge ordered the retailer to stop selling the high-capacity magazines.
“Federal Way Discount Guns chose to violate a law that makes our communities safer,” Ferguson said in a statement Friday. “Today’s ruling is an important step toward holding them accountable.”
The shop argued in King County Superior Court filings last month that Baghai did not brazenly disregard the ban. Instead, Baghai’s attorneys wrote, he listened to law enforcement officials who told him the ban was unconstitutional and therefore would not be enforced.
The filings argue the Second Amendment grants Baghai and his shop a right to sell weapons, including high-capacity magazines.
The documents filed March 27 asked Superior Court Judge Wyman Yip to dismiss Ferguson’s request for partial summary judgment, which was granted Friday. Baghai’s attorneys noted two pending lawsuits in Washington’s federal district court challenging the state ban on high-capacity magazines.
The gun shop did not respond to requests for comment after the judge’s decision was filed.
According to a Friday news release from Ferguson’s office, the shop was still in contempt of the court for violating King County Superior Court Judge Michael Scott’s preliminary injunction, handed down in January, to store its remaining high-capacity magazines and give the Attorney General’s Office an inventory of the items.
Instead of following that order, Baghai said the shop returned its remaining high-capacity magazines to distributors, though he did not provide any notice or documentation to the Attorney General’s Office.
Judge Yip ordered a forensic audit in response. That’s ongoing.
The suit also asked Baghai to forfeit any profits made from selling high-capacity magazines, but it was unclear Friday if he complied.
The Legislature passed the ban on high-capacity magazines in 2022, and it went into effect that year. Senate Bill 5078 prohibits the manufacture, import, distribution and sale of magazines with more than 10 rounds. Licensed gun manufacturers and dealers selling to military branches, law enforcement agencies or those that plan to take weapons out of the state are exempt.
Ferguson sued the shop and its owner in December for violating the law after an investigation into gun retailers across the state found Baghai was illegally selling high-capacity magazines, which were on full display.
Yip ruled the shop violated Washington’s Consumer Protection Act, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
Baghai did not contest that the shop sold at least 2,600 high-capacity magazines in the months before Ferguson filed the December lawsuit. The court will later determine the shop’s total number of violations and corresponding penalties.
Baghai faces a maximum penalty of $7,500 for every high-capacity magazine offered for sale and another $7,500 fine for every high-capacity magazine actually sold. Yip also ordered Baghai to pay Ferguson’s attorneys’ fees and other costs associated with the lawsuit, to be determined at a later date.
