SEATTLE — A judge in Washington has thrown out more than 300,000 signatures to put a gun-control initiative on the November ballot, saying the petition format did not follow election law.
Thurston County Superior Court Judge James Dixon said on Friday that the signature petitions for Initiative 1639 did not clearly identify what would change in the law and the font was too small to be readable. He ordered the secretary of state’s office to stop certification of the ballot measure.
The National Rifle Association and Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation had filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Kim Wyman to get the initiative off the ballot, arguing the people who signed the petitions didn’t know what it would do.
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen was among the backers of the measure.
The measure would raise the age for the purchase of a semi-automatic rifle to 21. It would also expand background checks for the purchase of these rifles. The measure would require a firearm safety training course and create standards for safely storing firearms.