August 15, 2025 – Gator’s Custom Guns, Inc. and Walter Wentz, the owner of Gator’s, filed a petition for a writ of certiorari, asking the United States Supreme Court to decide whether ammunition feeding devices with the capacity to hold more than ten rounds are “arms” such that they are entitled to constitutional protection under the Second Amendment. This case arises from Washington State’s ban on selling or importing “high capacity” magazines into the state. Washington’s Supreme Court held that “high-capacity” magazines are not “arms,” and therefore, not subject to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Bruen analysis. Federal circuit courts of appeal have ruled differently on this question. For example, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that magazines are “accessories, or accoutrements, rather than arms” because without an accompanying firearm, the magazine is simply a harmless box. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that magazines with a capacity of more than ten rounds are not arms because they are “more like . . . military grade weaponry.” However, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals held that magazines with a capacity to hold more than ten rounds “very likely are ‘Arms’ within the meaning of the plain text of the Second Amendment” and that to conclude otherwise would allow the government to circumvent the Second Amendment. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has also held that a magazine is an “arm under the Second Amendment.”

The U.S. Supreme Court recently denied a similar request in a case addressing Rhode Island’s ten round magazine capacity limit law, which was held to be constitutional by the First Circuit Court of Appeals. However, it was reported that three justices voted to grant the petition, falling just one vote shy for the Supreme Court to agree to hear the case. Given the substantial split between the circuit courts and state supreme courts regarding whether magazines are “arms” protected by the Second Amendment and the importance of this issue, it is likely that the Supreme Court will address this issue within the next few terms.

Renzulli Law Firm will continue to monitor the challenges to this law, related litigation, and its potential impacts.  If you have any questions about laws regulating firearms and ammunition, please contact John F. Renzulli or Christopher Renzulli.