On April 25, 2023, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed HB 1240 into law. HB 1240 made it unlawful for any person in Washington to manufacture, import, distribute, sell, or offer to sell commonly possessed semi-automatic firearms that the Bill had categorized as an “assault weapon.” The Bill defined “assault weapons” to include semi-automatic rifles with the capacity to accept a detachable magazine coupled with which had any number of certain characteristics, such as a pistol grip, telescoping stock, flash suppressor, or threaded barrel, which are commonly possessed throughout the United States for lawful purposes.
HB 1240 violates the Second Amendment rights of Washingtonians by denying them the ability to acquire arms that are in common use for lawful purposes. The Government cannot ban those arms simply because they do not like the features that they may possess, particularly since they are not dangerous and unusual.
On April 25, 2023, moments after Governor Inslee signed HB 1240, the Second Amendment Foundation filed suit, along with another civil rights organization, a firearms retailer, and three individuals. The lawsuit asks a federal court to ensure that Washingtonians have the ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights by declare that the ban violates the Second and Fourteenth Amendments and enjoining the Defendants from enforcing the ban.
Case Team: Joel Ard
Recent Docket Activity
September 10th, 2025
Case Reassigned to U.S. District Judge David G Estudillo. Judge Robert J. Bryan no longer assigned to the case per direction of chambers.
July 10th, 2025
ORDER EXTENDING STAY OF CASE AND FOR FURTHER STATUS REPORT, re 104 Status Report. Stay of case is continued; further status report due within two weeks of a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Duncan v Bonta, Cause Number 23-55805, or in any case, by 12/30/2025.Signed by Judge Robert J. Bryan.
