Why Greg Nickels’ proposed gun ban would never work

February 28, 8:52 AMSeattle Gun Rights ExaminerDave Workman

Previous Next

9 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Seattle Gun Rights Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Insert photo caption or credit here

Following a shooting incident at the 2008 Folklife Festival at the Seattle Center — the first ever at this decades-old event, and made even more rare by the fact that the shooter had a concealed pistol license — Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels blustered his way into the headlines, declaring that he would unilaterally ban even legally-carried handguns from all city property.

            Nickels does not have such authority and he knew it at the time, having admitted as much in a letter to State House Speaker Frank Chopp in a May 2006 letter. Undeterred, Nickels set in motion something of a circus. He began a “process” that involved a public hearing (which he did not attend!), moving toward what everyone expected to be a pre-ordained decision to issue an executive order mandating the ban.

            His anti-gun police chief, Gil Kerlikowske, seemed prepared to enforce such a ban until a better job offer came along.

            Nickels also said he would take his case to the Legislature, but as it turns out, any entreaty he may have sent to the state capitol in Olympia must have been met with a pretty cold shoulder. Perhaps the mayor’s pompous attitude about banning guns when that authority rests solely with the Legislature under the state’s model pre-emption law — adopted more than 20 years ago — and everyone knows it, poisoned the well for Chicago-native Nickels.

            The mayor has more obstacles to such a ban than just the Legislature. Washington’s state constitution clearly states that the right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself or the state shall not be impaired. And guess what? That right includes the open carry of firearms, a practice that has been upheld by the State Court of Appeals, most recently in an unpublished ruling in the case of State v. Gregory Casad.

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. 

            I explain all of this in my book, Washington State Gun Rights and Responsibilities. One can find out much more about open carry by visiting a popular forum, OpenCarry.org. And to further cool the indignation of the non-believers, even local police agencies have issued training bulletins to their officers, reminding them that open carry is legal.

            Mayor Nickels’ proposed gun ban was not simply wrong, but wrong-headed. It would target the wrong people, and would never prevent a single crime.

            No more substantive evidence of the folly Nickels entertained can be found than in New Orleans. There, during the recent Mardi Gras celebration, was a multiple shooting that wounded seven people, including a toddler.

            Police quickly apprehended the shooting suspect, identified as 20-year-old Mark Brooks. When they searched Brooks, the cops found that he was wearing an ankle bracelet, the kind strapped on people under the supervision of state corrections agencies.

            Brooks pleaded guilty last year to drug possession, drew a three-year suspended sentence and was on three years’ probation. He was a felon in possession of a firearm. He’s the kind of person for whom many liberals have been pressing a restoration of voting rights; just what this country needs, a lot of criminals voting for politicians like Nickels, who are more interested in public disarmament than they are public safety.

            In terms of violent crime, Seattle is one of the safer cities of its size in the nation. The homicide statistics clearly show this. This didn’t happen because of Greg Nickels’ leadership, but in spite of it.

            Since Barack Obama seems so fond of hiring people from Washington state to fill slots in his administration, perhaps he can find a job for Nickels. Now, he can’t replace a viaduct. He lost a professional basketball team. He can’t build a light rail system. He can’t even show up at a public hearing he convenes. There must be something he can do.