A suburban Seattle gun shop and its former owner will pay $3 million for selling high-capacity ammunition magazines despite a state ban, the Washington attorney general said Tuesday, the Associated Press reports. Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced the settlement with Federal Way Discount Guns and Mohammed Baghai after a King County judge found last year that the store and former owner were in violation of Washington’s Consumer Protection Act. The store and Baghai sold thousands of the magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition, after the state law banning them went into effect in 2022, Ferguson has said. Ferguson said the former owner kept selling them even after the state filed a lawsuit. The attorney general described the violations as “egregious and brazen,” The Seattle Times reported.
“Federal Way Discount Guns chose to violate a critical law aimed at combating mass shootings,” Ferguson said in a statement. “Washington businesses are following the law and stopped selling high-capacity magazines. This resolution provides accountability for someone who flagrantly violated the law.” The store’s website includes a link to a fundraising page seeking “donations that will help us to continue to stand up against Bob Ferguson and his team’s aggression as they relentlessly go after our 2nd amendment rights.” Since July 2022, it has been illegal under Washington state law to manufacture, distribute, sell or offer for sale gun magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition, with limited exceptions. Supporters of the bill said at the time the law could reduce the carnage seen in mass shootings because people could have the chance to escape or stop a shooter in the time it takes to reload the weapon.