U.S.A. — Only days after the Second Amendment Foundation and founder Alan Gottlieb filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, two of the nation’s largest sporting goods wholesale distributors have petitioned Thurston County Superior Court for declaratory and injunctive relief over civil investigations mounted by Ferguson’s office involving their businesses.
RSR Group and Davidson’s, Inc. filed separately for orders “declaring the Civil Investigative Demand for Answers to Interrogatories and Requests for Production of Documents (“CID”) issued by the Office of the Attorney General, State of Washington, Consumer Protection Division (“Attorney General”) on March 28, 2023 invalid and unenforceable, (2) for prospective injunctive relief against the Attorney General to enjoin his office from seeking information and documents from Davidson’s relative to its purported investigation, and (3) to set aside the CID.”
Both complaints were filed by attorneys with Corr Cronin in Seattle. This is the same law firm representing Gottlieb and SAF, and its sister organization, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in the civil rights lawsuit.
In both the RSR Group and Davidson’s cases, Ferguson’s office issued the CIDs which contained “five interrogatories and three requests for production with relevant time periods of ‘July 1, 2022 to Present’ and “January 1,2022 to Present.’” Ferguson’s office is, according to both lawsuits, looking for information regarding the possible sale of so-called “large capacity magazines” (LCMs) “to any person or entity located in the State of Washington.”
Sales of LCMs became illegal beginning July 1, 2022, but in the days leading up to that ban, sales for such magazines skyrocketed.
On June 3, 2022, SAF filed a federal lawsuit against Ferguson in his official capacity, challenging the state magazine ban in a case known as Sullivan v. Ferguson. SAF was joined in that case by the Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc., a California-based gun rights group; Rainier Arms, LLC and a private citizen, Gabriella Sullivan. They are represented by attorneys David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson and William V. Bergstrom with Cooper & Kirk PLLC in Washington, D.C., Cody J. Wisniewski at the Mountain States Legal Foundation, and locally by Joel Ard at Ard Law Group in Seattle.
At the time, SAF’s Gottlieb said the lawsuit sought a court ruling that the ban was unconstitutional under the Second and Fourteenth amendments. It is similar to challenges against magazine bans in other states.
“Many of the most popular handguns and modern semiautomatic rifles come standard with magazines that hold more than ten rounds,” Gottlieb said at the time. “Such firearms are legally owned by Washington residents. As we note in the lawsuit, there is no reliable proof that restrictions on new manufacturing or sales of such magazines will reduce violent crime. This law unfairly and arbitrarily penalizes honest citizens for crimes they didn’t commit, in the hopes of preventing crimes they wouldn’t dream of committing.”
In October, a federal judge in Tacoma allowed the Seattle-based Alliance for Gun Responsibility—a gun prohibition lobbying group—to join the LCM lawsuit as defendants. Ferguson supported the group’s motion to intervene, just as the Alliance had supported the magazine ban legislation, which Ferguson had requested earlier in 2022.
According to their individual complaints, neither Davidson’s nor RSR Group sell firearms, LCMs or any other products to individual consumers in the State of Washington, or anywhere else. Their business is with retail outlets.
“As such,” both companies contend, “the Attorney General lacks authority to compel (Davidson’s or RSR) to respond to the exceedingly broad and unduly burdensome demands asserted in the CID.”
Both firms also contend it would cost them more than $2 million apiece to comply with the CID. The companies also assert “The Attorney General lacks authority to issue the CID because it seeks information and documents pertaining to matters for which the Washington Consumer Protection Act (RCW §§ 19.86, et seq.) does not apply and/or is preempted by the comprehensive federal regulatory scheme applicable to licensed firearm manufacturers, importers, distributors, and dealers, and/or Washington’s Uniform Firearms Act.”
Neither SAF nor CCRKBA are connected to the RSR Group or Davidson’s legal actions, and likewise, neither company was listed as a plaintiff in SAF’s federal challenge of the magazine ban.
Recently, SAF and its partners in a federal lawsuit challenging the ban on so-called “assault weapons” in Washington State filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in that gun ban case. Neither Davidson’s or the RSR Group are plaintiffs in that case, either. The ban became effective last month immediately upon signing by Gov. Jay Inslee, who subsequently announced he will not seek a fourth term, opening the door for Ferguson to make a run as his replacement.
RELATED:
- 2nd Amendment Foundation Sues Washington AG Ferguson, Alleging Civil Rights Violations
- SAF Files for Prelim. Injunction Against WA Semi-Auto Ban
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
someone needs to take Washington ag to el Salvador and leave him with the mar 13 in a jail