Green Lake open carry incident Sunday stirring debate

A Sunday morning incident at Seattle’s Green Lake involving an open carry activist and Seattle police is now escalating on the Open Carry forum with suggestions to take legal action against an unidentified woman who made the initial 911 call to police.

First, a reality check with the King County Prosecutor’s Office reveals that it is not against the law for a citizen to call 911 with what the citizen honestly believes to be an emergency, i.e. a man walking around with a gun on his hip. Despite the fact that this is legal in Washington State, it can alarm people and even shock them, especially when – as Ian Goodhue, spokesman for the Prosecutor’s office succinctly put it – “they don’t know the law.”

Second, a check with the Seattle police reveals that the armed citizen was not arrested, and that, according to the officer’s written narrative, he told the cops that he “understood why we contacted him.” The armed citizen allegedly told the officers that he was formerly in law enforcement in another state and had been involved in a shooting.

There was an interesting notation in one of the two on-line narratives posted by the armed citizen, in which he asserts that:

They tried to use SMC (Seattle Municipal Code) 18.12 no guns in park against me, but I informed them that it had been overtuned (sic) in King County Superior Court.

That was the ruling in a case now awaiting an appeals court decision. That case was filed against the City of Seattle by the Second Amendment Foundation, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, National Rifle Association, Washington Arms Collectors and five individual plaintiffs.

Police, who had taken the man’s Beretta .45-caliber pistol from the holster on his left hip and his Smith & Wesson .380-caliber pistol, carried in a pants pocket, returned both handguns by placing them in a car belonging to the man’s wife, according to the report, and then departed after one of the officers apparently explained the situation to the original complainant. Afterward, the armed citizen retrieved his guns and resumed his walk around Green Lake with his wife.

He has apparently been taking strolls around Green Lake for at least a year, and this was apparently the first time he had ever been contacted by police. He has a valid concealed pistol license.

Over on the Open Carry forum, several people are encouraging the armed citizen, who goes by the nickname “JSanchez,” to pursue action against the department. He apparently is going to file a complaint with the department’s Office of Professional Accountability, apparently to assert a civil rights violation. Someone else has apparently filed a freedom of information request for documents relating to this incident.

Some questions arise here, and it might be productive to discuss these in the wake of Saturday’s successful Willow Lake open carry barbecue in SeaTac, discussed by this column. Dozens of visibly armed men and women attended that event, nobody called the police, everyone had a good time, people made an effort to clean up any mess, and they are still happily discussing it here.

There is no indication that the female complainant abused the 911 system by reporting an armed man at Green Lake, nor is there any indication she falsely told dispatchers that the man was doing anything other than carrying a holstered pistol. So, would pursuing some kind of action against her provide a moment of public education, or would it create public backlash and appear vindictive?

The woman obviously was not familiar with the unpublished Appeals Court ruling in 2007 in the case of State v. Casad, in which a man was prosecuted for having carried two rifles partially wrapped in a towel down a street in Port Angeles. The court stated in its opinion:

We note that, in connection with this case, several individuals have commented that they would find it strange, maybe shocking, to see a man carrying a gun down the street in broad daylight. Casad’s appellate counsel conceded that she would personally react with shock, but she emphasized that an individual’s lack of comfort with firearms does not equate to reasonable alarm. We agree. It is not unlawful for a person to responsibly walk down the street with a visible firearm, even if this action would shock some people.

There is no indication that “JSanchez” did anything other than conduct himself peaceably before, during and after his police encounter. Would it be more productive to file a complaint, or work with the department to clarify the law and possibly reduce the chances that this sort of thing happens in the future? Perhaps working with 911 call receivers and dispatchers to determine the nature of complaints might be in order.

There is nothing to prevent police from responding to a “man with a gun” report. Indeed, they might be considered negligent for not responding, even if it appears from the initial report that someone is simply minding his own business while exercising his legal right to bear arms. Seattle is one of several departments that have issued training bulletins about Open Carry, and a policy is clearly spelled out that includes establishing the full nature of the call.

Have open carry activists ever contacted the newspapers or television stations in a public education effort? This column is read by other reporters in the Seattle news market.

Has anyone contacted the city to discuss an open carry educational event at Green Lake, with a walk and an informational display? That would definitely get some air time on a local television station. Groups do "walks" around Green Lake frequently, for all kinds of reasons.

Remember the words of that great American philosopher Rodney King: “Can’t we all get along?”

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