Judge strikes down Seattle gun ban
by Dave Workman
Senior Editor
Almost immediately after a King County, WA, Superior Court judge threw out a City of Seattle parks gun ban, the city’s freshman mayor declared that the state’s preemption law should be changed to allow Seattle to set its own gun rules.
It was a major victory for the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and National Rifle Association (NRA), which had filed the lawsuit in October with two other gun rights groups and five individual plaintiffs.
More than 25 years ago, the state legislature passed its precedent-setting preemption act, to prevent cities from making their own rules, which had become a patchwork of often contradictory ordinances. But Mayor Mike McGinn, who succeeded Greg Nickles, the man responsible for the illegal gun ban, seemed something of a sore loser.
“I am disappointed in today’s ruling,” McGinn said in a terse statement. “Cities should have the right to restrict guns in playgrounds, pools and community centers where children are present. The court’s ruling was based on a state law, RCW 9.41.290, which preempts Seattle from regulating the possession of firearms. It’s time for the state Legislature to change that law.”
Gun rights activists think otherwise. The ruling, handed down by Superior Court Judge Catherine Shaffer, contained a bombshell that stunned anti-gunners in the courtroom who were sitting behind Ray Carter, one of the five individual plaintiffs in the SAF/NRA lawsuit, which also included the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) and Washington Arms Collectors (WAC).
Carter told Gun Week that he heard audible gasps when Shaffer noted that “the plaintiffs have a clear legal or equitable right to carry firearms under the federal and state constitutions.”
SAF Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb was delighted with the ruling, even though the judge dismissed all four organizations as plaintiffs on grounds of standing.
“This is a great victory for the rule of law and Washington citizens,” Gottlieb said.
He said the ruling, which gives Seattle 30 days to remove all gun ban signs from all parks and recreation properties that were posted, is also “a victory for the legislature because this case affirms the intent of lawmakers in 1983 to prevent cities like Seattle from creating a nightmare of conflicting…firearms regulations.”
Gottlieb said the Shaffer ruling solidifies the legislature’s authority on firearms matters.
“It sends a message to city and county governments to stop meddling with the rights of Washington citizens,” he stated.
The ruling was also a major defeat for Washington CeaseFire, the Northwest’s most vocal anti-gun group, which numbers around 6,000, according to its website.
CeaseFire had thrown its weight behind the ban, even though Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna had warned the city more than a year ago that such a ban was illegal under state preemption.
Nickels was ousted in last August’s mayoral primary. He is now a guest lecturer at Harvard.
The city was given 30 days to appeal.
Judge Shaffer not only issued a summary judgment, but also a permanent injunction against the city, which had been represented at no charge by a private attorney group with offices in Seattle. SAF and NRA were represented by attorneys Steven Fogg and Molly Malouf with Corr Cronin.
A different lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Seattle, challenges the ban on Second Amendment grounds. That lawsuit was scheduled for a hearing within days, but there is some speculation that it may be dismissed because of the ruling in the SAF/NRA case.
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