OHQ Legal Fees: Small Business -vs- WA State
My dad, Mark Reimers, 64, has been working hard his entire life, building businesses from the ground up. For most of his life, he worked as a General Contractor. As he got older, that job started to take a toll on his body, so at 62, During Covid, he built one last business as his retirement plan.
He started a gun shop with his personal collection of firearms in a 400sq foot suite. In two years, Mark was able to move into a retail space 8x the size of the last. He was able to hold a Grand Reopening in November 2022, bringing in 200+ people to celebrate and support his small business, Ordnance Headquarters. Mark had built a business and clientele that guaranteed success in his course toward retirement.
But in April 2023, a bill was passed in Washington state, banning the sale, distribution, and importation of certain items. Banned items made up 70% of sales and services at Mark's business.
- The bill was contradictory, interchanging terms and definitions, causing items that were not addressed as the 'issue' to be grouped in and banned as well.
- The bill was confounding, causing some law enforcement agencies to deny applications for LEGAL firearms.
- The bill was negligent, banning the OUT OF STATE sale of these items, interfering with interstate commerce and forcing Mark to take $150,000 worth of inventory home with him with nowhere to go.
- The bill affected what firearms he is allowed to fix as a gunsmith because parts for banned firearms can no longer be imported in for repair. Citizens are "grandfathered in" until their gun breaks.
HB1240 unsympathetically damaged Mark's business overnight. We've received word that small businsses in Washington have already had to close their doors due to this bill, and it's only a matter of time before all small FFLs do.
This law may not be seen as a 2nd Amendment violation by legislators because these are the effects of legislators trying to work around 2A lawsuits. Instead, This law violates the commerce clause, the 5th amendment, and the due process clause of the 14th amendment.
Mark has found himself at a dead end. The thought that he may have to start over from scratch at 64 is paralyzing.
But I have pushed my dad to seek justice for his business. If the state is going to cause the collapse of small businesses, owners deserve to be compensated for the damage.
My dad deserves to retire.
All donations will go toward legal fees to sue the state of Washington for irrecoverable damages due to a confounding, contradictory, and negligent law.
