This case is bullshit. It starts a standing analysis as to whether these parties have standing to sue to invalidate a settlement between the federal government and a private party with the standard citation:
"To present a justiciable case or controversy under Article III, plaintiffs must demonstrate an “injury in fact” that is “fairly traceable” to the actions of the defendants and that will likely be redressed by a favorable decision. See Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560 (1992)."
Then the court literally doesn't say a single fucking thing about what the so-called "injury in fact" is. And then never actually explicitly finds standing. Which is jurisdictional. Then goes on and decides the rest of the case. This is bullshit.
This is as close as it gets:
"The States’ interests in curbing violence, assassinations, terrorist threats, aviation and other security breaches, and violations of gun control laws within their borders are at least marginally related to the interests protected or regulated by the AECA."
That is ludicrously tenuous. It's the federal government that decides what can be done in international trade. The states don't get to say shit about it because they're "marginally related." How the fuck does that manufacture standing? For instance, I could get shot with one of these guns. That doesn't give ME standing to sue over the settlement.
I have rarely seen such a piss-weak standing analysis. It completely hand-waves away a jurisdictional challenge, largely because of the political opinion of the judge, and decides the case without any jurisdiction to do so.
Good luck with the Ninth Circuit though.
Also, that's not even getting to the main weirdness of this, which is that a state, Washington (and others) are dissatisfied with a settlement reached in a federal court in Texas, but are suing in a Washington federal court, which is not a court of appeals to a Texas federal court.
If I were the Texas federal judge in question, I'd say another district court has no jurisdiction to overrule decisions made in my court.