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Political hypocrisy and social bigotry swirling around edges of PrideFest
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Does the City of Seattle under Mayor Greg Nickels believe that one civil right is more important than another, perhaps at the peril of the city’s gay residents who will participate in PrideFest at the Seattle Center?
It’s beginning to appear that way, as gay gun rights activists note with chagrin that, while the city will allow anti-gay demonstrators at the Seattle Center in recognition of their First Amendment rights of free speech and assembly, the city is requiring PrideFest organizers to prohibit firearms at the Center as part of its lease agreement.
It is also beginning to appear that Nickels lacks the guts to actually issue his long-threatened executive order banning guns, probably because he knows he will be immediately sued, and that he will lose. So, instead he plays this little game of forcing lease holders to enforce a ban, which they have no authority under law to do, and should not be put into such a position in the first place. Only cowards force others to do their dirty work.
“It is the City’s policy,” says the agreement, “to not allow events on City property at which the event organizers permit the possession of firearms. As a condition of entering into this agreement, Licensee agrees to prohibit any person, except for law enforcement officers and on-duty security personnel, from possessing firearms at Licensee’s Event in the Facility(ies), and to take reasonable steps to notify Licensee’s audiences, staff, volunteers, vendors and contractors of this prohibition. City shall provide and place signage notifying the public of this policy at all main entrances to the Seattle Center campus and to the Facility(ies), and shall conduct regular training in implementing the foregoing policy for its Admission personnel and contract Peer Group personnel.”
One gun rights activist suggested that PrideFest simply appoint any armed citizen who attends the event as an on-duty security officer while they are on site.
The Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation has promised to sue Nickels and the city if the mayor goes through with his threat to sign an executive order banning all firearms from city property, in defiance of the state’s 25-year old preemption statute. That lawsuit will reportedly be joined by the National Rifle Association, and three individual plaintiffs.
It is the City’s policy to not allow events on City property at which the event organizers permit the possession of firearms.
Anti-gay protests at the Center in past years have, according to one gay gun owner, speaking on condition of anonymity, left many gays and lesbians feeling threatened and intimidated, and worried about their safety. Yet the city dismisses their concerns. This is yet another manifestation of the social bigotry against firearms owners being practiced in Nickels' Seattle. He's all for gay rights, until that gay person decides to exercise his or her rights under the Second Amendment and Article 1, Section 24 of the state constitution. At that point, the gay person's rights suddenly become far inferior to the First Amendment rights of anti-gay protesters, or even the illegal activities of gay bashers who may be attracted to the Seattle Center to commit a violent hate crime.
This one-sided approach to gun rights seems to be standard operating procedure for Seattle under Greg Nickels. Two Town Hall meetings to address youth violence are scheduled this month, on June 15 at Eckstein Middle School and on June 25 at The Hall at Faultleroy. At the latter event, the scheduled keynoter is Dr. Gary Slutkin, executive director of Chicago Ceasefire, an anti-gun-rights organization. An e-mail to the city inquiring whether someone from a firearms rights organization would also be invited to speak went unanswered.
Both meetings run 6:30-9 p.m. and are open to the public.
UPDATE: Activists in Olympia report that no such prohibitions will apply to a Pride event scheduled June 20 in that city. The event will be patrolled by Washington State troopers and Olympia police.
Update on Holocaust Museum shooting
It now appears that slain Holocaust Museum guard Stephen T. Johns was not wearing soft body armor, despite a plea from a union official some two years ago that guards be issued protective vests.
Johns was reportedly hit in the upper left chest by a round fired from a gun held by shooting suspect James von Brunn, 88, who was subsequently wounded by other guards. Johns apparently opened the museum door for the elderly gunman, who promptly raised his rifle and fired. Johns never drew his sidearm.
The FBI is being closed-mouthed on the type of firearm that was used, but MSNBC reported this morning that the gun is so old that it cannot be traced. It either has no serial number or the serial number was removed or simply was worn off. Prior to the Gun Control Act of 1968, a lot of firearms had no serial numbers. This was particularly true of .22-caliber rimfires and lower-priced shotguns.
Had this gun been a semi-automatic sport-utility rifle, erroneously dubbed an “assault weapon” in recent years by a sensationalist anti-gun press, we would have known it almost immediately. But law enforcement officials are unusually reluctant to provide details on this gun. Why? Is it possible that the gun was a mere .22-caliber rimfire, which fires a bullet that could have easily been stopped by a protective vest, had guard Stephen Johns been given one to wear?
UPDATE: The Washington Post and Associated Press are now reporting that von Brunn was, indeed, armed with a .22-caliber rifle. It was reportedly loaded with ten rounds.
Charging documents do not identify the make or model of the rifle recovered, but do say that three spent casings were recovered at the scene and ten rounds remained in the magazine.
It is dangerous to force more guns into places that American families expect to be gun-free and safe -- Paul Helmke
Ronald Reagan, James Brady, Metro Police officer Thomas Delahanty and Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy were all wounded with .22-caliber bullets, fired from a handgun held by John Hinckley, Jr.
Gun prohibitionists wasted no time in exploiting the tragedy, and some of the rhetoric has been over the top.
Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, was quoted by the Washington Times insisting, “Congress should think very hard about their responsibilities for public safety before weakening gun laws in our nation's capital, and should rethink their decision to allow more guns in our national public areas. It is dangerous to force more guns into places that American families expect to be gun-free and safe.”
Helmke conveniently overlooks the fact that virtually every mass shooting in this country in the past 15 years has occurred in a “gun-free zone.” Those places are risk-free working environments for the madmen – or terrorists – who perpetrate a mass shooting, and Helmke knows it.
However, Helmke’s remarks were almost tame in comparison to a statement from Josh Horwitz at the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.
“What we are seeing play out in tragedies across our country is the mixing of the insurrectionist idea with increasingly weaker gun laws,” he said in a prepared statement. “In shooting after shooting, we have seen individuals disgruntled with government gain easy access to firearms despite criminal records and troubling mental health histories.”
Thank you, Josh. All this shooting proves (for the umpteenth time!) is that gun laws have not prevented criminals and crazies from getting their hands on firearms, while they have placed unnecessary roadblocks on the rights of law-abiding citizens, and now Horwitz has admitted it.
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