In a 7-2 ruling, the Washington State Supreme Court has upheld the state’s ban on so-called “large-capacity magazines,” declaring in a 19-page decision that such magazines are not “arms” protected by the Second Amendment.
Writing for the majority, Associate Justice Charles W. Johnson stated, “LCMs also fall outside either protection of the right to bear arms because the provisions protect only those arms that are commonly used for self-defense, and we have been presented with no credible and persuasive evidence or argument that LCMs are commonly used for such a purpose.”
Two justices—Sheryl Gordon McCloud and G. Helen Whitener—countered with a 34-page dissent which declared, “The Second Amendment protects the individual right to keep and bear arms…More specifically, it protects the right of law-abiding people1 to keep and bear arms ‘in common use’—not just arms that the government approves of. And it protects that conduct when it is done “for lawful purposes” including, but not limited to, ‘self-defense’ —not just when it involves returning fire, as the State seems to contend. Finally, the Second Amendment’s protection of that conduct is the highest in ‘the home, where the need for defense of self, family, and property is most acute.’”
Anti-gunners cheered the ruling, but gun owners reacted negatively in remarks left at the websites of the Seattle Times and KOMO.
The case is known as State v. Gator’s Custom Guns. After the state banned large capacity magazines in 2022, Gator’s challenged the ban. A state superior court ruled the ban violated the constitution, so the state appealed. At the time, Cowlitz County Judge Gary Bashor ruled, “It is logically inconceivable that an item that is constitutionally protected to possess could be prohibited from sale to the very people who have the protected right to possess it.”
The ban allows continued use and possession of LCMs by people who already owned them, but prohibits the sale, manufacture and importation of such magazines.
The ban was supported by former attorney general, and now Gov. Bob Ferguson. His successor, A.G. Nick Brown, is praising the ruling, asserting the ruling “is right on the law and will save lives.”
“Large capacity magazines are used in the overwhelming majority of mass shootings, and reducing the toll of these senseless killings is vitally important,” Brown said in a message posted on “X.”
This may not be the end of the fight, however. As of Thursday afternoon, there were hints this could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court because it involves a Second Amendment issue.
