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SeaTac open carry gathering sends signal to criminals
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A gathering of residents in the Willow Lake Apartments of SeaTac, the south King County community where some citizens have evidently “had enough” of criminal activity is nothing to be alarmed about.
They met for an informal gathering on March 28 to discuss crime problems in their neighborhood.
Most of the people who attended this event were openly carrying sidearms. That’s legal, it is protected by the state constitution and a couple of state appeals court rulings, State v. Spencer and State v. Gregory Casad.
Organized by James Beal, a member of the internet forum OpenCarry.org, the event attracted the attention of KING5 News and KIRO Eyewitness News.
Washington is an “open carry” state, meaning that it is legal to carry a sidearm openly on one’s belt, in public. While the overwhelming majority of legally-armed citizens pack their hardware concealed — perhaps the prudent thing to do considering the prevailing weather in these parts — a growing number of open carry activists are appearing across Washington and several other states.
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.
Staying ahead of this phenomenon, several police and sheriff’s departments have issued training bulletins to remind officers and deputies that open carry is legal.
Meanwhile, Kristen Comer, executive director of Washington Ceasefire, actually told KING5 News that bringing neighbors together to discuss community safety is a positive thing. However, she also contended that open carry may not be the kind of thing that some people want to see in their community.
For the vast majority of residents in this area, is that what they want?” she said. “Do they want their neighbors walking around with the sidearms on their persons at all times?
It is not what Comer or residents in Beals’ SeaTac neighborhood “want” that is important, it is what is legal and constitutionally protected that ultimately counts.
Rights, and legally-protected conduct, are not subject to neighborhood whim.
As the appeals court ruled in the Casad case, “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.”
The Washington constitution specifically protects the right of the “individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself, and the state…” Over the past 70-plus years, ever since Washington began issuing concealed carry licenses (the law dates back to 1935), open carry has gone out of vogue but it remains legal.
First, the statute does not prevent a person from carrying weapons in self-defense.
Weapons may be carried in response to "presently threatened unlawful force by another". RCW 9.41.270(3)(c). If there is no present threat, weapons must be carried in a manner that does not warrant alarm in others.
The Legislature in 1969, in what might be determined to be something of a “lesser moment,” passed RCW 9.41.270 that makes it illegal for “any person to carry, exhibit, display, or draw any firearm, dagger, sword, knife or other cutting or stabbing instrument, club, or any other weapon apparently capable of producing bodily harm, in a manner, under circumstances, and at a time and place that either manifests an intent to intimidate another or that warrants alarm for the safety of other persons.”
This was done in reaction to a demonstration in Sacramento, Calif., by several armed members of the Black Panthers two years earlier, when Ronald Reagan was governor.
Efforts have been made to repeal or amend the statute over the past 30 years, but still it remains. The Casad ruling narrowed the definition of what could “warrant alarm” but it is still incumbent on armed citizens to behave reasonably.
Whether a citizen chooses to carry a firearm openly or concealed for their personal protection and the protection of their families, they are not taking the law into their own hands, but acting within existing law.
At a time when budget cuts are seriously threatening the ability of civilian law enforcement to provide adequate protection for the community, many citizens like those who gathered with James Beal at the Willow Lake Apartments are shouldering the responsibility to take care of themselves.
See what fellow Gun Rights Examiners are saying:
And my colleagues in Washington State:
For more info: Washington State Gun Rights and Responsibilities
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