Weeks-long court system outage halts thousands of gun sales in Washington State.

Due to a court computer system outage, thousands of gun sales are on hold in Washington State, and after two weeks, Second Amendment advocates are threatening to sue.

"Daniel Mitchell, owner of a gun store in Vancouver, told Planet Chronicle Digital that the 10-year shutdown is unprecedented for him at any level, state or federal. He stated that they have never seen a shutdown that has lasted this long."

On November 4, the Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts stated that the state's courts network was shut down due to the detection of "unauthorized access."

Since Nov. 1, the Washington State Patrol (WSP) has not been able to complete any mandatory background checks on firearms sales, while local courts have had to adjust timelines for case filings, trials, and other legal actions.

According to WSP, the agency usually handles between 400 and 1,000 background checks daily.

"Unfortunately, there are no work-arounds or detours in this situation, and patience is our only option," WSP spokesperson Chris Loftis told Planet Chronicle Digital in an email Friday. "Good people are working around the clock to get the system fixed, safe to use, and up and running."

But Mitchell and other Second Amendment advocates say that's not good enough.

"For almost two weeks, the state has denied numerous citizens their right to obtain firearms, which amounts to a mass deprivation of civil rights under color of law, according to Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb."

If the state fails to promptly restore the system, SAF is considering legal action.

The state patrol aims to expedite background checks once the system is back online, but a backlog may cause delays.

Mitchell asserted that the government would never succeed in restricting individuals' freedom of speech, religion, or privacy rights for two weeks, as he stated.

""The government's shutdown is the beginning of tyranny, as they have the power to control our time and actions, but we are the ones who ultimately work for them, not the other way around," he stated."

The waiting period for gun sales in the state has caused frustration among customers, as gun dealers only realized there was a problem several days after the outage.

This year, a law requiring stricter background checks took effect, as democratic lawmakers passed it. Prior to this, firearms dealers relied on the FBI's federal database for processing checks. Now, the Washington State Patrol (WSP) has been assigned this task.

Mitchell stated that there are currently 15 days or possibly 15,000 background checks pending.

If checks don't start going through again soon, customers can expect another obstacle.

"The federal paperwork for firearms purchases expires after 30 days, requiring customers to start the process over."

Officials have been tight-lipped about the cause of the court network outage, which was triggered by an unauthorized activity.