Suits: Legal challenges will prevail against WA assault weapons ban

After Governor Jay Inslee signed into law Tuesday a bill that bans the sale of assault weapons in Washington state, multiple gun advocacy groups immediately sprung into action, filing lawsuits to try and overturn the ban.

Bryan Suits predicts that the ban will be short-lived.

Gov. Inslee signs ban on assault weapons sales; challenges begin

While there have already been several legal challenges, Suits called out the National Rifle Association (NRA), saying they aren’t doing enough to overturn the ban.

“I’ve seen this play before,” said Suits. “The NRA goes missing with your donations. They lobby for the manufacturers, they’re not out fighting for your rights. They’re not challenging a state that does this, there’s not a Gulfstream landing in Olympia with a clown car of NRA lawyers. That’s not what they do.

“[The ones that do show up] they have results right up through the Ninth Circuit Court. They’ve shown results. They have the firm legal argument for why magazine capacity is illegal for the government to regulate,” Suits continued.

As written, the bill prohibits the sale, manufacture, and import of assault weapons in the state, but there are exemptions for law enforcement and the military. Those who already own assault weapons would be allowed to keep them.

The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday to fight the ban, saying that it was unconstitutional under the Second and Fourteenth Amendments.

“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.

Aero Precision Manufacturers out of Tacoma also filed a lawsuit Wednesday in which they argue that “if an arm is ‘typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes’ today, then it may not be banned, full stop,” citing the Supreme Court’s ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller.

Now with the ban starting, there was a rush to get guns ordered before the ban went into effect, but Suits said that he didn’t need to wait in line.

“Everyone is trying to get in at the last minute,” Suits said. “Chris Ohnemus, the co-owner of Pinto’s Guns in Renton, was receiving orders for out-of-state people shipping in and people trying to get their paperwork in prior to this going into effect. And I don’t know how that works. I don’t know, I couldn’t tell you. I thought of it beforehand. I’m not that guy in line today at Cabela’s or Bass Pro Shop or whatever. I’m the guy who started a long time ago.”

You can listen to the full discussion of the ban here:

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