
The Second Amendment Foundation announced today the Washington State Attorney General’s Office has signed an agreement ending a three-year investigation which revealed no wrongdoing by SAF or its personnel, in exchange for the foundation’s withdrawal of its federal civil rights lawsuit against the AG’s office, former Attorney General Bob Ferguson and other defendants.
The agreement includes withdrawal of a pending Public Records Act request by SAF for records from the Attorney General’s office, while the AG’s Consumer Protection Division will close its investigation of SAF and other plaintiffs. While the agreement does not award fees or other costs to either side, SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb says this agreement amounts to a “vindication of our position that SAF, its partners and personnel did nothing wrong.”
“This investigation, launched by Bob Ferguson in an effort to discredit our work on behalf of gun owners and the Second Amendment, was a politically motivated legal fishing expedition,” Gottlieb declared triumphantly.
“Ferguson’s witch hunt wasted three years of our time and cost us thousands of man hours and more than $200,000. We’re convinced this happened because he is a devoted anti-gun rights politician and we are a national organization whose mission is to protect and defend the Second Amendment.”
SAF was targeted along with its sister organization, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Merril Mail Marketing, the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, the Service Bureau Association, and Liberty Park Press, for which Gottlieb is publisher.
“We’re glad this is over,” Gottlieb observed, “but we’re not happy that Ferguson is not held responsible for the damage he did. It is our sincere hope that no future attorney general in Washington state will conduct a politically motivated attack under color of law against any non-profit organization with which he or she has a fundamental philosophical disagreement.”
Under the agreement, the Washington Attorney General will not pursue any legal action based on the investigation.
Gottlieb said this is hardly surprising, “since they couldn’t find any wrongdoing.”
Second Amendment Foundation
The Second Amendment Foundation (saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group dedicated to safeguarding and promoting the fundamental rights of individuals enshrined in the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. SAF engages in aggressive legal action to ensure the principles of armed self-defense, personal liberty, and the ownership of arms are defended, secured, and restored. Through public education initiatives, SAF teaches the importance of the Second Amendment to promote a society that values and exercises the right to keep and bear arms.
We are in dangerous times! We have ONLY MET A THIRD of our funding goals! Will you help out?
2nd Amendment Foundation Sues Washington AG Ferguson, Alleging Civil Rights Violations
Seems the AG achieved what I suspect was their primary goal. SAF dropped lawsuit against the AG and governor in exchange for AG terminating investigation… Unfortunately such victories encourage more lawfare on part of tyrannical governmental entities.
Another example of the Process Is Punishment! A concept conservatives seem not to understand.
YES BUT…. is there anything preventing anyone else, or any other organization, from seeking information under a FOIA to get all documents, emails, and other communications, electronic or otherwise, from the Wa. AG’s office, it’s personnell, and even personal phone records concerning his and his office’s activities in this matter? Just sayin’.
Sounds like a cop out to me, and whatever was hidden behind the Public Records Act request is still hidden. Call this a victory if you like, but it sounds like the white flag of surrender to me, though admittedly I’m an outsider looking in and not privy to all the insider information.
In the dictionary under communist bureaucrat is this jackass’s picture.
Since the RADICALIZED LEFT LEANING ACTIVIST “ag” brought the FRIVIOUS CHARGE and EXPENSIVE INVESTIGATION/DEFENSE, THAT person MUST BEAR THE ENTIRE COSTS OF THE FALSE COURT CASE AND INVESTIGATION — Both the government’s AND th DEFENDANTS’!! FAIR IS FAIR!!
SAF, WA Atty. General’s Office Sign Agreement Ending Probe, Civil Rights Lawsuit
Way back in 1977 at a leftist university on the Left Coast I heard a very notable conservative attorney describe to our group what eventually emerged as ‘lawfare’. Spawned by the Marxist inspired Progressive New Left young people were told the new battlefields of revolution would be in the press, in the bureaucracy and in the court rooms. These dedicated Marxists declared the law and the practice of law to be no longer a noble profession intended to provide peaceful conflict resolution but they declared the practice of law and our courts to be legitimate revolutionary battlefields. The year was… Read more »