Washington's highest court upholds ban on high-capacity magazine sales

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Washington’s highest court has once again maintained the state’s ban on large-capacity magazine sales.

With an opinion issued on Thursday, seven of nine Washington Supreme Court justices upheld Senate Bill 5078 — which went into effect in July 2022. The measure prohibits buying, selling, importing and distributing magazines with more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

More than a year after the bill’s passage, former Washington Attorney General and current Gov. Bob Ferguson sued Kelso business Gator’s Custom Guns for continuing to sell the high-capacity magazines. The saga continued last spring, when Cowlitz County Superior Judge Gary Bashor ruled the ban was unconstitutional and issued an injunction to pause its enforcement.

In response, Ferguson filed a motion to halt the ruling. Washington Supreme Court Commissioner Michael Johnston later granted the temporary stay, therefore keeping the ban in place while officials debated its validity. Another attempt to challenge the ban’s enforcement, this time from Gator’s Custom Guns, was struck down again in July 2024.

Although opponents of SB 5078 have claimed it violates the right to bear arms, the recent opinion argued that Washingtonians can still legally own firearms — and large-capacity magazines aren’t necessary for self-defense.

“…Some firearms may require a magazine to function as intended, but there are no firearms that require an LCM to function,” the majority opinion reads. “This is unlike ammunition, which is an integral component of a firearm because ammunition is necessary for a firearm to function as intended: a lack of ammunition would render the firearm a paperweight —or, at best, a scarcely effective bludgeoning tool — and it no longer serves its function for the core purpose of self-defense.”

Justices Sheryl Gordon McCloud and G. Helen Whitener were the only two justices to dissent from this opinion, stating that it violates the Second Amendment.