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Commissioner Michael Johnston of the Washington State Supreme Court has opted to extend the legal injunction continuing halting a Cowlitz County judge's decision to deem the state's large-capacity magazine ban unconstitutional.

The state's ban on selling magazines with more than 10 rounds continues, as the case moves to higher courts. 

Johnston initially granted the legal pause on April 8, and is continuing the ban because he is "concerned that the superior court’s decision would trigger a flood of LCMs (or large-capacity magazines) entering state circulation," he writes in his decision. 

On Tuesday, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a request with the state Supreme Court to bypass the appeals court and take the case directly. The request is currently pending.

During the brief window between Cowlitz County Judge Gary Bashor's unconstitutional ruling and the legal pause, Gator's Custom Guns sold large-capacity magazine for 88 minutes, according to the store's owner Walter Wentz.

William McGinty of the Washington State Attorney General's Office said during last week's hearing that firearms retailers around the state were selling the item "as soon as they possibly could."

Gator's Custom Guns, the Kelso firearm retailer at the heart of the case, gained attention for its sale of those aftermarket accessories after the state ban went into effect in 2022. This prompted Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson to file a lawsuit alleging that the store and its owner intentionally violated the Consumer Protection Act by unlawfully offering over 11,400 high-capacity magazines to the public.

Gator's Custom Guns also filed a declaratory judgment action against the state before the attorney general's suit, alleging the ban costs the store money and infringes on Wentz’s rights to bear arms under the state and federal Constitution.

Wentz told The Daily News in March he would take his case to the United States Supreme Court if necessary.

Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge Gary Bashor lifted the ban earlier this month, finding it violated the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Washington Constitution.

McGinty also stresses that, besides being a public health issue, if the legal pause were to have been dissolved, it would cause irreparable harm to the state's case. He highlighted the state's ongoing efforts to vindicate the constitutionality of the ban while firearm stores were selling the item at "breakneck speed," thereby reinforcing the importance of the court's decision.

Austin Hatcher of Mead's Hatcher Law (and who is also part of Pasco’s Silent Majority Foundation) is representing Gator's Custom Guns and argued in favor of dissolving the emergency stay because "all the state has is speculative harms," and the stay affects a citizen's right to bear arms.

RAMROD is back on: The 40th annual Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day endurance cycling event will circle Mount Rainier National Park on Sept. 4.

The ride is typically in July, but a permitting impasse with the national park wedged a wrench in the spokes of this summer's event. Mount Rainier National Park is debuting a timed entry system this summer designed to alleviate crowding in the park. MRNP leadership denied a request from RAMROD organizers Redmond Cycling Club to use busy Paradise and Stevens Canyon roads for the race.

Unable to agree on a route that would avoid those roads, the park and Redmond Cycling Club elected to avoid the timed entry window entirely. Instead, RAMROD will test out an amended version of the event in September, the Wednesday after Labor Day.

"We are thrilled to revive this Northwest tradition and welcome cyclists back to Mount Rainier National Park," Redmond Cycling Club Director Joe Matthews said in a news release this week. "RAMROD holds a special place in the hearts of cyclists, and we are excited to continue its legacy of pushing the boundaries of cycling achievement while fostering a deep appreciation for the natural beauty of our region."

So what was the big holdup?

The cycling club said it wouldn't orchestrate the ride without use of the southern roads, citing a depreciated experience and deflated ridership in years past when the route was amended to avoid Paradise and Stevens Canyon roads. The park, meanwhile, would not budge on approving use of the roads this summer, citing concerns about crowding and safety.

U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier's office threw its weight behind the issue, facilitating conversations between the parties that led to a compromise. Organizers are labeling this year's ride as "a pilot program due to necessary safety-related changes that come with less available daylight and the transition to late summer/early fall weather patterns."

This year's event will have tweaks beyond the new date: Participants will cycle clockwise for the first time, starting and ending in Enumclaw as they circumnavigate Mount Rainier. Registration, scheduled to start next month, will feature first-come, first-serve priority, instead of the typical lottery system (2023 volunteers will be grandfathered into the total of 800 riders, per RAMROD tradition).

Over four decades, RAMROD has built a reputation as one of the country's premier endurance cycling events. Cyclists travel some 150 miles around the mountain, conquering more than 10,000 feet of elevation gain.

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     (c)2024 The Seattle Times

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Grizzly bears will be reintroduced to the North Cascades National Park, finalizing a long effort to bring the species back to the rugged mountains.

"We are going to once again see grizzly bears on the landscape, restoring an important thread in the fabric of the North Cascades," Don Striker, superintendent of the national park complex, said in a statement.

The plan is to gradually relocate a few bears each year from the Rocky Mountains or interior British Columbia to the region from Snoqualmie Pass to the Canada border. The last confirmed sighting of a grizzly bear in the U.S. portion of the North Cascades was in 1996.

Grizzlies had been part of the ecosystem for millennia until they were nearly hunted to extinction during the early 1900s.

Tribes and conservation groups praised the decision Thursday, calling it a triumph.

"The Upper Skagit celebrates this decision for the great bear, the environment and everyone who desires a return to a healthy Indigenous ecosystem," Scott Schuyler, a policy representative for the Upper Skagit Tribe, said in a statement. "We urge the agencies to move forward and put paws on the ground so the recovery may begin."

At nearly 9,800 square miles, the recovery zone is larger than the state of New Jersey and includes North Cascades National Park and other wilderness areas that feature icy peaks deep valleys.

The agencies plan to move three to seven grizzly bears per year for five to 10 years to establish an initial population of 25 bears, according to the restoration plan.

Young bears between 2 and 5 years old that have not reproduced and have no history of conflict with humans would be selected for capture and reintroduction. A higher ratio of females will be selected to facilitate faster breeding.

The bears will be fitted with radio collars so wildlife managers can monitor their movements.

The recovery goal for the North Cascades is a population of 200 bears. Reaching that level could take 60 to 100 years, according to the environmental analysis, because grizzlies are among the slowest reproducing mammals in the world.

Bears would be released in remote wilderness areas on park service or forest service lands, including areas within the Stephen Mather, Pasayten and Glacier Peak wilderness areas.

There is no set timeline for when relocations will begin.

The directors of the park service and fish and wildlife service signed the decision this week, a month after releasing the proposed restoration plan and final environmental impact statement.

Drafts of the environmental analysis and a rule designating the population as experimental were released for public comment last fall. More than 12,000 comments were received by the end of the comment period in November.

Grizzly bears in the Lower 48 are protected under the Endangered Species Act. However, the bears reintroduced in the Cascades will have a "nonessential experimental population" designation, which gives wildlife officials more options for killing or relocating bears that have run-ins with people and livestock.

This was an important compromise for long-term success of the program, said Gordon Congdon, a retired Wenatchee orchardist and a member of the Friends of the North Cascades Grizzly Bear who advocates locally for the bear's return. Cooperation with local residents is essential.

"Together, we can live with grizzlies," Congdon said. "They have been doing so in Montana for a long time."

The key to living peacefully with these new neighbors will be public outreach and education.

"We haven't had grizzlies here for a long time, so people are a little cautious about an animal they don't know well," Congdon said.

The most important thing for residents to do is secure their garbage, he said.

For hikers and campers, the advice is similar to what they should already do for black bears. Keep food away and secure. Avoid surprising bears by staying aware of surroundings, making noise and hiking in groups when possible.

"Hopefully before I die," Congdon said, "I will be able to see a grizzly bear in the North Cascades."

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     (c)2024 The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.)

     Visit The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.) at www.spokesman.com

     Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

In recent years, it seems, every federal election gets billed as the most important in our lifetime. Some are saying that about the upcoming 2024 presidential contest. Midterm elections don't typically generate as much excitement, but some folks even said it about the 2022 midterm elections.

How much did that rhetoric help drive voter turnout in Washington and around the nation?

Newly released U.S. Census Bureau data on the 2022 midterms helps answer that question.

The data shows Washington ranked among the top states for voter turnout, just making it into the Top 10. Even so, when it comes to exercising our civic duty, our neighbors in Oregon could teach us a lesson.

In Washington, about 3.92 million people voted in the 2022 midterms, representing 59.7% of the 5.51 million state residents who are citizens and of voting age. That ranked Washington 10th among the 50 states and Washington, D.C.

Nationwide, about 121.9 million people voted in 2022, representing 52.2% of the 233.5 million Americans who were eligible to vote. This was slightly lower than the 53.4% voter turnout for the 2018 midterm elections, which, it's worth noting, was also touted by some at the time as the most important election of our lifetime.

Oregon left us — and every other state — in the dust. Seventy percent of those eligible to vote in the Beaver State cast a ballot in 2022, easily ranking No. 1 for turnout. Maine was a distant second at 63.8%, followed by Minnesota at 63.7%.

The lowest voter turnout in the nation in 2022 was in West Virginia, at 38.4%. Indiana was second lowest at 40.9%, followed by Arkansas at 43.9%.

The data also breaks down voter turnout by three factors: gender, race/ethnicity and age.

In general, a higher share of women than men vote, and this was true in the 2022 midterms. Nationally, 53% of women who were eligible to vote cast a ballot, compared with 51.3% of men.

In Washington, a higher share of women than men voted, but the difference was less than 1 percentage point: 60.1% vs. 59.4%.

Some states had a much wider gender gap. Massachusetts and Mississippi stood out with a difference of 6 percentage points in favor of women. But there were also nine states where a higher share of men than women voted in the 2022 election. Indiana had the widest gap in favor of men, at 1.9 percentage points.

In recent decades, white and Black people tend to have a higher turnout in federal elections than Hispanic and Asian people. In the 2022 midterms, white people voted at a significantly higher rate than the other racial/ethnic groups. Nationally, 57.6% of white non-Hispanic eligible voters cast a ballot, followed by Black voters at 45.1%, Asian voters at 40.2% and Hispanic voters at 37.9%.

In Washington, the gap was even greater. White non-Hispanic eligible voters turned out at 68.2%, a far higher rate than any other group. Hispanic voters had the second highest rate, at 46.3%, followed by Asian voters at 39.2% and Black voters at 34.2%.

Age is the single largest predictor of voter turnout in federal elections. The youngest cohort tends to have the lowest participation rate, and the numbers increase with each successive age group.

This pattern held true in 2022. Nationally, just 27.6% of eligible 18- to 24-year-olds voted in the midterms. Among those 65 and older, 66.8% voted.

I was surprised to see the youngest voters in Washington were around the national average for participation in 2022, with 27.8% of those eligible casting a ballot. Wisconsin had the highest voter turnout among this age group, at 49.4%. Oregon was also much higher than Washington, at 44.8%.

But Washingtonian voters 65 and older helped the state save face in 2022, with a participation rate of 78.4% — that ranked fifth highest among the states. Oregon was No. 1 the voter turnout among this age group, at 80.2%.

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     (c)2024 The Seattle Times

     Visit The Seattle Times at www.seattletimes.com

     Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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