High capacity magazines were legal for just 90 minutes in Washington State on Monday, but one gun store claims they sold hundreds of assault rifle magazines before getting stopped by an emergency court decision.
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson first sued Gator's Custom Guns, in Kelso, last September, alleging that the store violated a 2022 state law prohibiting sale, import, manufacturing and distribution of ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.
Store owner Wally Wentz responded to the state charges by arguing that the law was a violation of the Second Amendment. Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge Gary Bashor sided with Wentz, in a 55-page ruling declaring "there was no appetite to limit gun rights by the Founders."
The Washington Supreme Court almost immediately approved a stay at the request of the Attorney General's office. In the less than two hour period between the court ruling and the stay, Wentz was able to sell hundreds of high-capacity magazines.
Gator's Custom Guns advertised the brief period of legality in a profanity-laden update shared to Facebook.
"Magazines> Come f*****g get em you s**ts," the store wrote. "Till [sic] the wheels fall the f**k off." The post advised customers that if they were greedy they would be "insulted and verbally abused" before concluding his post by vowing that the store would seven days a week, until "we get told we cant [sic] sell mags again."
Shortly after the stay was issued, Wentz's business posted an update thanking "everyone who came in on what would normally be a closed day."
"We pushed about 250 people through for magazines in the 2ish [sic] hours we had," the update reads. "The next round of fighting starts."
Wentz, who claims he lost 30 to 40% of his business due to the ban on high capacity magazines, hopes to win the case on appeal, according to KGW.
"If we do lose in there, we're going to appeal - just like we knew the state would appeal this week," he said. "If we get to those folks in black dresses it's going to be a dogfight."
Democratic State Senator Patty Kuderer said that she was confident the higher court would rule in favor of the ban.
"They'll look at this as a public safety issue, which it is, and it does not impair someone's ability to have a gun," Kuderer told KGW. "It just limits the number of bullets that can be fired at one time."
