OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson is asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state's new gun law.

Ferguson said in a motion filed on Thursday that voters overwhelmingly approved Initiative 594 and that his office will vigorously defend the law that expands background checks for gun sales.

The attorney general says the opponents of Initiative 594 have not shown how the new gun law has harmed them, so they lack standing in the case.

The federal court in Tacoma is expected to rule on the motion in late March. The lawsuit was filed at the end of December by people who seek a permanent injuction against enforcement of the parts of Initiative 594 that deal with non-commercial transfers of guns to private citizens.

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