US judge rejects challenge to Washington state law that could hold gun makers liable for shootings

SEATTLE– A federal judge on Friday rejected a challenge to a Washington state law that cleared the way for lawsuits against the gun industry in certain cases.

The measure was one of three bills signed into law by Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee last year to address gun violence.

It requires the industry to implement reasonable controls when making, selling and marketing weapons, including steps to prevent weapons from being sold to people known to be dangerous or to straw buyers. It allows the attorney general or private parties, such as the family members of shooting victims, to sue for violations or damages under the state’s consumer protection law.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association, challenged the law in U.S. District Court in Spokane, saying the measure violates the Second Amendment and its members’ free speech rights.

U.S. District Judge Mary K. Dimke dismissed the lawsuit in a decision Friday, saying the organization had not gained legal standing to challenge the measure. She noted that its members had not been charged under the law, nor had they expressed any intention to violate its terms.

“This law protects Washingtonians from gun violence by ensuring that gun industry members are effectively held accountable when their irresponsible behavior harms our communities,” Democratic Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who is running for governor, said in a statement. press release.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, based in Connecticut, did not immediately return a message seeking comment after business hours Friday.

In 2005, Congress passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which shielded the gun industry from liability under certain circumstances. However, states may make exceptions to that federal law, Ferguson said. Washington and four other states – Delaware, New York, New Jersey and California – have done so.

The other bills Inslee signed last year include a bill that banned the sale of certain semi-automatic rifles and another bill that imposed a 10-day waiting period on firearm purchases.

Legal challenges against the sales ban and the state ban on the production and sale of high-capacity magazines, adopted in 2022, are pending.

There have been 10 mass killings — nine of them shootings — in the U.S. so far this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. At least 47 people have been killed in these killings, which are defined as incidents that kill four or more people within a 24-hour period, not including the killer — the same definition used by the FBI.