2A Tuesday 11.7

An Update from Pete Serrano

Nov 07, 2023

“The right of self defense is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any colour or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.”

St. George Tucker

Thank you for your support of Silent Majority Foundation! As the general counsel of the organization, I'd like to assure you that our focus remains on protecting constitutional rights, and the right to Bear Arms is preeminent in our litigation. Presently, we have 4 pending firearms matters, and I believe that our court dates on two of them are ahead of the curve compared to other similar litigation. Here's a break down of our current Right to Bear Arms litigation:

SB 5078 (>10 round capacity magazine ban)

Brumback v Ferguson (federal court, Eastern Dist. of WA). This case was filed July 2022, and our Motion for Preliminary Injunction was heard on November 23, 2022. The Judge issued an order in the matter denying our Preliminary Injunction on September 25, 2023, and she required us to put schedules for future briefing together. SMF's approach was to get the next hearing (Permanent Injunction) before the court ASAP, with a request that the motion be heard in February 2024. The State wanted to push it out until December 2024. Earlier this week (October 30th), the Judge issued a statement requiring all briefing to be submitted to the court by April 2024, with a hearing date of May 21, 2024. You can view the scheduling order and case documents here.

Washington v. Gator's Guns (State Court Cowlitz County). This case has had interesting evolutions as it started with the State issuing a Civil Investigative Demand (a CID is a fact-finding tool available to the Attorney General where he asks questions and you answer under penalty of perjury) to Gator's, requiring the business to certify the number of the prohibited magazines sold since July 2022. Gator's, with our assistance, challenged the CID, including the constitutionality of SB 5078. Subsequently, the State dismissed the CID and filed suit against Gator's for allegedly violating SB 5078. SMF/Gator's refused to drop its challenge to the CID, so we had a hearing on the challenge to the CID in October. The Court determined that the CID challenge was moot (dead), but that before ANY briefing on whether Gator's violated the law, the Judge wants to know if SB 5078 is constitutional, and that's the only question before the court at this time. We were supposed to have a schedule for the briefing and hearing on the constitutionality of SB 5078 to the court by now, but, again, the State wants to stall until at least May 2024, whereas SMF/Gator's is pushing to complete briefing and have a hearing on the constitutionality of SB 5078 by the end of 2023 or early January 2024. We have a hearing on the proposed scheduling set for 11/8/23.

HB 1240 ("Assault weapons ban")

When the Judge in Thurston County denied our request for preliminary injunction, we filed a motion for discretionary review in the Washington State Supreme Court, which was filed on 10/13/2023. The State will Answer our motion on 11/5, and we will have an opportunity to reply on 11/29. The Court will decide whether it wants to take the case in December (tentatively scheduled for 12/6). If the court denies the Motion, we will be back in Thurston County, briefing the matter ASAP. If the Court takes it, we've moved the case to the WA Supreme Court within months of filing the case, which is a very expedited pace.

HB 1705 ("Ghost Guns ban")

This case was filed in Stevens County and the State moved it to Thurston County. We challenged that move and sought appeal by the Washington Court of Appeals (Division III). We briefed the issue, noting that the case belongs in Stevens County for several reasons, including the fact that the plaintiffs reside there and that any enforcement of the ban against the plaintiffs would have to occur in Stevens County, regardless of which law enforcement agency would undertake such enforcement action. We should have a decision from the Court Commissioner on whether the challenge to moving the case to Thurston County will remain with the Court of Appeals within the next couple of weeks. Once we know whether the court will hear the matter in full, we will be able to take the next step in the case (i.e., either litigate the constitutionality of HB 1705 in the court of appeals or in Thurston or Stevens County).

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Gun Control Myth: AR-15’s are the Weapon of Choice for Mass Public Shooters

Research by Crime Prevention Research Center

Media claims that AR-15’s are the weapons of choice for mass public shooters but is that really what the data shows? This graphic from Dr. John R. Lott breaks down the types of weapons used in 12 prominent public shootings from 1998 to 2021.