SEATTLE — The Second Amendment Foundation and the National Rifle Association filed a lawsuit today against the city of Seattle and Mayor Jenny Durkan over new legislation signed this past Wednesday.
The new legislation requires safe storage of firearms and increases civil penalties and legal responsibility for failure to report guns that are lost or stolen.
Officials with SAF and the NRA are alleging the legislation violates Washington state’s 35-year-old preemption statute and is therefore unenforceable.
SAF officials said in their release Friday that state law prohibits cities, towns, counties and other municipalities from adopting law that exceeds state authority.
"The City of Seattle has been trying to erode state preemption almost from the moment it was passed back in 1985," SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb said in the release. "When the city tried to ban guns from city parks facilities under former mayors Greg Nickels and Mike McGinn, SAF and NRA joined forces with other organizations to stop it, under the state preemption statute. We should not have to repeatedly remind Seattle that they are still part of Washington State and must obey the law."
Two Seattle residents, Omar Abdul Alim and Michael Thyng, who are also gun owners, are joining the lawsuit.
Police Chief Carmen Best and the Seattle Police Department are also named as defendants.
Previous coverage below on safe storage legislation from MyNorthwest.com:
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Previous coverage: Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan signed into law new legislation requiring safe storage of firearms and increased civil penalties and legal responsibility for failure to report guns that are lost or stolen Wednesday.
Earlier:
The Seattle City Council unanimously approved two gun control regulations Monday, originally proposed by Mayor Jenny Durkan, that require safe storage of firearms. Seattle residents now face penalties if they do not safely store their firearms or report lost and stolen guns.
"For me it's very simple," said council President Bruce Harrell. "We are just trying to save one life at a time. Whether this law or any law drastically changes the needle, that concerns me less. We are trying to save one life at a time."
The pair of ordinances are aimed at the city's gun violence problem that has spiked in recent years. At the same time, recent studies indicate majority of Washington gun owners do not practice safe storage of firearms. Council member Lorena González said the safe storage ordinance is a "common sense" rule.
“These are a suite of laws, particularly the safe storage law, that will have a measurable impact in keeping our children safe and our communities safe from gun violence,” González said. “All of the research we have been reading … really does tell us that safe storage of firearms in the home makes a huge impact in terms of keeping our community safe.”
Seattle’s safe storage regulation
Seattle’s safe storage regulation and the rules on reporting lost and stolen guns state:
Safe storage: Guns should be stored in a locked container, and rendered as unusable to any person other than the owner or authorized user.
Unauthorized access prevention: It will be a civil infraction if a minor, at-risk, or prohibited person obtains a firearm when the owner should have reasonably known they would have access to it.
Violation of the safe-storage law, or the unauthorized access regulation could result in a fine between $500 and $1,000.
If a prohibited or at-risk person, or a minor obtains a firearm and uses it to commit a crime, injure or kill someone (including themselves), the gun owner could be fined up to $10,000.
If a civil case results from prohibited access, it will be "prima facie evidence" that they are negligent. That means it is immediately a fact, unless proven otherwise.
The new gun law will go into effect 180 days after it passes and Mayor Durkan signs it.
The future of Seattle’s safe storage law
Some predict the new gun control laws will quickly head to court. That includes former Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna. He has noted that Seattle has run into issues in the past when passing firearm-related bills. The city previously attempted to ban guns in parks, but that law was thwarted and knocked down via a lawsuit.
Seattle, however, successfully passed and defended a gun tax that is still in effect. McKenna says that the details of Seattle’s safe storage law will be argued sooner or later.
“I assume they’ll make the argument that the state statute does not address storage,” he told KTTH Radio’s Jason Rantz. “Now it does address possession and one could argue that storage is an aspect of possession.”
“Is regulation of safe storage specifically authorized by state law? I don’t know that it is,” McKenna said.
Council President Harrell addressed legal aspects of the new regulations before the council voted Monday.
“It’s complicated world,” he said. “But at the end of the day we are doing everything we can, given the hand we are dealt in the existing legal scheme.”
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