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• Pending Government Action:

  Government Action: BBB reports on known government actions involving business’ marketplace conduct:

  State of Washington v Gator's Custom Guns, Inc.; Walter L. Wentz, an Individual
  

  The following describes a pending government action that has been formally brought by a government agency but has not yet been resolved. We are providing a summary of the governments allegations, which have not yet been proven.

  On September 12, 2023, in the State of Washington Cowlitz County Superior Court, the State of Washington entered a Complaint for Injunctive and Other Relief Under the Washington Consumer Protection Act against Gator’s Custom Guns, Inc. and Walter L. Wentz, an individual for unlawfully selling high-capacity magazines. 

  The complaint alleges, the Kelso-based retailer continued selling high-capacity magazines — potentially thousands — after the law went into effect in July 2022. The lawsuit asserts the retailer intentionally violated the Consumer Protection Act when it unlawfully offered 11,408 high-capacity magazines for sale to the public. Gator’s sold a total of five high-capacity magazines to investigators on two separate occasions. In fact, one of those sales was made by Wentz himself: two magazines with capacity four times greater than the maximum allowed under the law.

  The Attorney General’s investigation revealed that Gator’s Custom Guns is among the state’s largest and most persistent purchasers of high-capacity magazines from out-of-state distributors. Upon visiting the retailer, investigators observed numerous shop displays — barrels and boxes filled with magazines that covered a substantial portion of the store’s retail space. It is the largest display investigators have seen to date as part of the office’s sweep. The Attorney General’s Office tried obtaining records from Gator’s to determine how much of that inventory it distributed, but the store was uncooperative.   

  Ferguson’s lawsuit seeks to force Gator’s Custom Guns to stop unlawfully stocking, advertising, and selling high-capacity magazines and to destroy or return to its distributors all of its remaining inventory. The suit also seeks civil penalties for every violation of the Consumer Protection Act. The maximum penalty is $7,500 every time the retailer sold or offered to sell a high-capacity magazine.

  The illegal sales to Attorney General’s Office investigators happened approximately 10 months after the ban on high-capacity magazines went into effect, following a well-publicized court ruling against another Federal Way gun retailer for similar violations of the law. 

  In May, an investigator with the office’s Consumer Protection Division visited the store twice. During the first visit, a sales representative illegally sold three high-capacity magazines: one Glock 33-round magazine, one Magpul 27-round magazine and one Magpul AR 40-round magazine. During the second visit, the store’s owner sold two Magpul 40-round magazines to the investigator.

  During each visit, the investigator observed barrels and boxes filled with hundreds more high-capacity magazines taking up a significant portion of the retail space. Those included magazines with rounds up to five times greater than the maximum allowed under the law.

  The law banning high-capacity magazines went into effect on July 1, 2022. Ferguson partnered with Sen. Marko Liias to propose Senate Bill 5078, which made it illegal to manufacture, distribute, sell or offer for sale magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. Violations of the high-capacity magazine ban also constitute violations of the Consumer Protection Act.

  For more information, please contact the Washington State Attorney General’s Office at https://www.atg.wa.gov/ or (360) 753-6200.

   

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