BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation is disappointed that federal Judge Benjamin H. Settle today dismissed without prejudice our lawsuit challenging provisions of Initiative 594, the 18-page gun control measure passed in Washington State last November.
However, SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb noted that in reaching his decision, Judge Settle acknowledged that “The Court is sympathetic to Plaintiffs in that one must actually be prosecuted or under actual or immediate threat of prosecution before the Court may address the constitutionality of a statute.” The judge further observed that “the fairness of this rule may definitely be questioned…”
“It is mind boggling that a law-abiding citizen evidently must put their civil rights, not to mention their clean criminal record, at risk before a court can rule whether a law is constitutional,” Gottlieb observed. “It is definitely unfair, and we believe every American will think it unfair that someone has to be chained and incarcerated before they are allowed to challenge an attack on their constitutional rights.
“Because the state has refused to prosecute violators does not diminish the constitutional threat of this law,” he stressed. “This is 2015, not the Dark Ages.
“However,” Gottlieb said, “If the state is willing to sign a consent decree that they will not prosecute any citizen under I-594 who is not prohibited from owning firearms, we will consider not filing an appeal.”
Gottlieb and his legal team will continue to pursue justice in this case.