Public reaction to a proposed ban on firearms at Seattle park facilities was decidedly negative, with 96 percent of the people weighing in on the idea turning thumbs down.
While Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels appears to have lost sight of the fact that gun owners have rights, including the right to use public property, the citizens have not. I wrote about that here.
According to Bob Scales, senior policy analyst for the city’s Office of Policy and Management, in addition to the 1,088 comments submitted via e-mail to the city during a comment period that ended Sunday (Oct. 4), there were also ten telephone calls received by the Customer Service Bureau. Nine of those were against the idea and one supported the proposed ban.
Out of 1,098 comments, including the ten telephone calls, only 44 people supported the gun ban idea.
With results like that, what’s a lame-duck mayor to do?
Well, in the case of Greg Nickels, he hands off responsibility for adopting the ban rule to the director of Parks and Recreation. This is the end result of more than a year of posturing by the mayor, who had wanted to lobby the Legislature in January to erode this state’s long-standing preemption law, essentially allowing cities – or at least Seattle – to adopt their own firearms regulations.
Nickels apparently did not do his homework on that one very well, because if he had, he would have realized that the Legislature passed preemption in 1983 to prevent that kind of thing. Prior to that, the state had kind of a checkerboard of gun regulations, so that something which might be perfectly legal in Yakima would be illegal in Tacoma. Washington’s preemption statute works so well that it has served as a model for similar laws in other states.
(Nickels) apparently thinks he is being clever by having a surrogate sign an order to post city parks off limits to firearms. If that is the case, the chicken has, indeed, come home to roost.” – Alan Gottlieb, Second Amendment Foundation
Upon learning that Nickels would not be signing an executive order banning guns, as he had originally threatened in June 2008, Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation said it was “chicken.” He issued a critical statement about Nickels and the public comment data on Thursday.
The data provided by Scales is revealing, showing once again how out of touch with his own constituents the mayor has become.
Only 8 percent of Seattle residents who commented on the proposed ban support it. A whopping 92 percent are opposed. Only 2 percent of the people who commented from outside the city, or from other states (presumably they visit Seattle occasionally) agree with Nickels. Ninety-eight percent of the non-Seattleites reject the notion. Out of 1,098 comments, including the ten telephone calls, only 44 people supported the gun ban idea. As of this writing, that data had not been posted on the city’s website or the mayor’s.
The embarassingly negative public comment tilt comes on the heels of a Rasmussen poll released earlier this week that shows only 20 percent of American citizens think a city has the right to ban handguns. I wrote about that here.
Nickels isn’t simply “out of touch” with the public, he’s evidently not even on the same planet. Perhaps this is why he came in third during the August primary, effectively ending his reign as mayor.
The public comment is not a vote to decide whether we are or aren’t going to do it.” – Bob Scales, senior policy analyst, Office for Policy and Management
Scales said that during the first few days of public feedback, there were between 200 and 300 comments, then activity waned until four days before the deadline, when the National Rifle Association posted a reminder on its website so that members could offer comments. That was when activity spiked.
“Some people said they didn’t live in Seattle but they work in Seattle or visit Seattle,” Scales said, “and some people didn’t feel that this was legal or constitutional.”
What was most significant about that conversation, however, is the indication that Nickels – a founding member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns and a devoted gun prohibitionist – intends for this gun ban to become reality, despite public opposition.
“The public comment,” said Scales, “is not a vote to decide whether we are or aren’t going to do it.”
This is a crushing defeat for Mayor Nickels.” – Alan Gottlieb
If the regulation is adopted, as appears to be the case, Scales said signs will be going up at all city park and recreation facilities.
Now, here’s where the city is playing political chess, and SAF’s Gottlieb accuses the city of being disingenuous. There is no criminal penalty for violating the ban, Scales said, but if a gun owner is told to leave one of the parks facilities and he or she does not, that person can be arrested for criminal trespass.
Gottlieb’s response was blunt: “It is still a ban and it is still a violation of state preemption.”
Editorial note:
My new book with Alan Gottlieb, Assault on Weapons: The Campaign to Eliminate Your Guns, is now available on Amazon.com and is No.1in three categories at this writing. This book looks at the history of the gun prohibition movement in the United States and how it demonizes firearms owners to achieve citizen disarmament.
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Comments
What will surprise you is the signs have been up since august. I did an open carry walk at Lincoln Park in West Seattle in August and the No Guns Allowed signs were everywhere. Arrogant fools!!! I heard from the Atty. Gen. on this and unfortunately he stated that Nickels can initiate this law and then the law suits can take place after the fact. I have never wanted to move out of this city or state so badly as I do now. You can only beat a dead horse so long then you just have to bury it to get away from the smell!
I am extremely pleased to hear the results of the public inquiry.
I am not sure that Nickles will listen, as he seems to have made up his mind, and simply wants to get his way (sort of like an adolescent).
But the people have spoken. Nickles can do this the easy way, or the protracted, hard way. The SAF will hold him to the law, and I support them for that.
Nickels needs to be prosecuted for violation of Civil Rights. Where the Hell is the U.S. Attorney and why aren't his phones ringing off the hook?
Recall that we are nearing the anniversary of the assasination of assistant US Attorney Thomas Wales.
It is quite curious that the PR spin was that his killing was retaliation for his leadership of the gun control group 'ceasefire' - with nary a suggested suspect.
Knowing Greater Seattle, and Wales occupation as a white collar criminal prosecutor, I'd actually start looking his cases for suspects....
On a motive basis, of that 'person of interest' list is Mike McKay, a former holder of that office and, curiously, now a white collar defender....
Brother John is a much nicer guy, but one has to wonder if concerns about this were a part of the motivation for his ouster - and perhaps the only justified one of the lot.
-Douglas Tooley
motleytools.com/blog
Dave Workman, wasn't Nickles defeated in Seattle's mayoral primary? Why is he still in office, and when the samhill does he finally leave it?
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