OLYMPIA — A Thurston County Superior Court judge on Friday rejected an attempt by challengers of Washington’s new law banning the sale of dozens of firearms, including AR-15s, to halt the legislation while it undergoes a court challenge.
Judge Allyson Zipp rejected a request for a temporary restraining order that would have blocked House Bill 1240 from being enforced, according to an announcement Friday from Attorney General Bob Ferguson.
The law bans the sale, manufacture and importation of certain firearms, including AR-15s and AK-47s. Gov. Jay Inslee signed the bill into law in late April.
Zipp’s is the second determination by a judge this month allowing the law to move forward while court cases proceed.
In early June, U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan denied an attempt by the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation and other opponents in another case to block the law from being enforced via an injunction.
“My legal team remains undefeated against the gun lobby in court,” Ferguson said in a statement. “This common-sense gun reform will save lives by restricting access to the preferred weapon of mass shooters.”
The plaintiffs in the Thurston County case include gun sellers, owners and would-be gun owners, said Pete Serrano, one of the Silent Majority Foundation lawyers representing the plaintiffs. The foundation, based in Pasco, is also a plaintiff in the case.
In a motion seeking the temporary restraining order, the challengers argued the law “immediately and directly infringes on Petitioners’ rights to bear arms protected” in the Washington Constitution, and that the Legislature’s “prohibition on all Washingtonians’ constitutionally protected rights constitutes immediate irreparable harm” that could only be remedied by a ban on the law’s enforcement “until it is deemed unlawful.”
The ruling was delivered orally and a written order will be filed later, according to Ferguson’s office.
The lawsuit was initially filed in Grant County but was transferred to Thurston County. A third lawsuit against the law, in federal court in the Eastern District of Washington, is also pending.
Majority Democrats in the Legislature had long sought to enact tighter restrictions on such firearms. Inslee and Ferguson jointly requested this year’s bill.
