Spokane attorney leading NRA’s legal challenge to new gun laws

Melissa Luck by Melissa Luck

From NRA via CNN

A Spokane attorney and several Spokane residents are leading the legal challenges to new gun laws, passed by voters this month.

Initiative 1639 passed statewide with about 60 percent of the vote. It makes Washington’s gun laws some of the strictest in the nation.

A challenge to the law was filed in federal court in western Washington this week. Spokane attorney Matthew Albrecht filed the suit, with the NRA and Second Amendment Foundation among those demanding declaratory and injunctive relief.

Spokane resident Robin Ball, who owns Sharp Shooting Indoor Range and Gun Shop, is among the individual plaintiffs in the case.

The suit claims “I-1639 drastically rewrites statutes governing purchase, sale, and ownership of firearms” infringing on the Second and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Some provisions of the law go into effect in January, others go into effect in July of next year.

In addition to Ball, other plaintiffs are a firearms dealer from Vancouver; a 19-year old competitive shooter and member of the US Long Range Rifle Under 21 team; Nathaniel Casey, a 19-year old from Spokane who is a student at Boise State and a member of the U.S. Army reserves; a 20-year old recreational shooter; and a 19-year old Seattle University student who is also a gun owner and recreational shooter.

The plaintiffs under 21 are challenging a provision of the initiative that prohibits anyone under the age of 21 from buying a pistol or semiautomatic assault rifle.

The suit was filed Thursday.

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