(STORY IMAGE:KHQ.COM)
SPOKANE, Wash. -The Washington State Supreme Court late Friday afternoon reversed a Thurston County judge's decision, which has cleared the way for a gun-control initiative to appear on the November ballot.
Sharp Shooting gun store owner Robin Ball says this decision is going to have impacts.
"It reduces access for people going out and hunting and wanting to buy something new," said Ball.
Ball says the initiative will limit the sales of long guns across state lines which could end up hurting businesses like hers.
"We work a lot with Idaho residents on long guns, and that will no longer be allowed under this," said Ball. "So it is kind of a business killer for those of us in border communities."
Thurston County courts initially threw out over 300,000 signatures earlier this month saying the petition didn't follow election law with the too small of font.
The state supreme court stated in Friday's ruling that the Secretary of State couldn't block Initiative 1639 from appearing on the ballot.
The Secretary of State and gun rights activists had complained that the petition to collect signatures didn't clearly show what the initiative would do. The reason was that the font size was too small. But Ball says that isn't the issue
“The real issue is the manner in which they violated the first court case. When they were told they had to change line through the old language, insert the new language so people who were standing at the counter at Wal-Mart or Rosauers had a clear view of what it was they were signing and they did not do that when the signature petitions came out," added Ball.
Initiative 1639 would raise the age for the purchase of a semi-automatic rifle to 21. The initiative will also expand the background checks for purchases of semi-automatic rifles.