SMF immediate action against SHB1240
Acting immediately, Silent Majority Foundation today filed a state lawsuit challenging the latest effort of Governor Inslee, Attorney General Ferguson, and the state legislature to impair the fundamental constitutional right of Washington citizens to bear arms in self-defense.
SMF is seeking an emergency temporary restraining order, and will move for a preliminary and permanent injunction immediately thereafter.
The petition for declaratory and injunctive relief was filed in Grant County Superior Court, which is home to petitioners Guardian Arms LLC, Millard Sales, LLC, two local gun stores, individuals Michael McKee, Edgar Salazar, Paul Hill, Ted Hile, Brina Yearout, Nathan Poplawski, and Jaxon Holman, and SMF, which is asserting organizational standing on behalf of its members and donors. The petitioners are represented by Pete Serrano and Austin Hatcher.
SMF received interest from potential plaintiffs around the state, but decided to bring the action in the county from which a majority of interested plaintiffs resided. The overreach of SHB 1240 was evidenced from the widespread interest from individual citizens who wished to challenge the prohibitions, as well as the outpouring of interest from firearms dealers, law enforcement and military veterans, disabled individuals who will no longer be able to purchase accessories and parts to modify weapons they use for self-defense, and democratic voters who think the state has gone too far under the auspices of public safety.
The provisions of SHB 1240 will do nothing to curb crime, and only impair the right of law-abiding citizens to continue purchasing the most commonly owned type of firearm in the country. Semiautomatic firearms have been in widespread use for more than a century, and are as American as baseball and apple pie.
This action is the latest in a series of challenges filed by SMF to combat the ever increasing restrictions by the Governor, Attorney General, and Legislature to eviscerate the constitutionally-protected right to bear arms. SMF is maintaining an action challenging the ten round magazine ban in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, as well as a challenge in state court fighting the ban on “ghost guns” or self-manufactured firearms in Stevens County Superior Court.
The Washington Constitution is supposed to grant broader protections than the federal constitution, and SMF intends to put that legal maxim to the test, and is prepared to take this case to the Washington Supreme Court if necessary. Ultimately, it is hoped that the courts start protecting individual rights, rather than further limiting and restricting them incrementally.
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