We need more judges like the Honorable Catherine Shaffer. http://www.examiner.com/x-4525-Seattle-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2010m2d12-Judge-in-Seattle-case-Plaintiffs-have-right-to-carry-under-federal-state-constitutions
A King County, WA superior court judge threw some haymakers into a ruling that strikes down the City of Seattle’s illegal ban on guns in city parks, granting not only a summary judgment request from the plaintiffs, but also issuing a permanent injunction against the city, which has 30 days to remove signs from some 500 different facilities. The injunction takes effect Wednesday, Feb. 17.
The lawsuit was filed last fall by the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation and its sister organization, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, plus the National Rifle Association, Washington Arms Collectors and five individual plaintiffs.Judge Catherine Shaffer did not mince words in her order, part of which was handwritten and issued from the bench following an afternoon hearing in her Seattle courtroom. “The court finds that the plaintiffs have a clear legal or equitable right to carry firearms under the federal and state constitutions,” she ruled. The judge also noted that the “court finds that there is no genuine issue of material fact on which reasonable minds could differ.” To everyone’s surprise, she also mentioned the landmark Heller ruling against the District of Columbia’s handgun ban that found the Second Amendment to be protective of an individual civil right, an issue that was never brought up in the SAF/NRA legal argument. She also dissected and individually demolished the city’s legal arguments. According to a West Seattle blog, the city is weighing its options and has 30 days to appeal. Judge Shaffer’s ruling ends 18 months of legal wrangling, most of it in the court of public opinion before the lawsuit was actually filed last autumn. A second lawsuit, this one filed in federal district court by a man named Robert Warden, is still pending. Incredibly, one of the city’s major news agencies initially reported incorrectly that Warden’s lawsuit had been won. Warden’s lawsuit has nothing to do with the Friday ruling. Later Friday, that information was corrected. There was one surprise in the judge’s ruling, however. She found that SAF, CCRKBA, NRA and WAC all lacked standing as organizations, but that the individual plaintiffs had standing. She dismissed the organizational claims “with prejudice.” SAF Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb accepted that part of the ruling, noting in a telephone conversation that the important thing is “we won.” He issued a statement to the press following Judge Shaffer's ruling. This is a critical victory for gun rights advocates for a several reasons. First, it solidifies the state’s model preemption act, adopted more than 25 years ago, and strengthened two years later. Had Washington’s preemption law essentially been gutted by this case, it could have had implications for preemption statutes in other states.The state of Washington hereby fully occupies and preempts the entire field of firearms regulation within the boundaries of the state, including the registration, licensing, possession, purchase, sale, acquisition, transfer, discharge, and transportation of firearms, or any other element relating to firearms or parts thereof, including ammunition and reloader components. Cities, towns, and counties or other municipalities may enact only those laws and ordinances relating to firearms that are specifically authorized by state law, as in RCW 9.41.300, and are consistent with this chapter. Such local ordinances shall have the same penalty as provided for by state law. Local laws and ordinances that are inconsistent with, more restrictive than, or exceed the requirements of state law shall not be enacted and are preempted and repealed, regardless of the nature of the code, charter, or home rule status of such city, town, county, or municipality.-RCW 9.41.290
Second, the ruling puts other local government entities on notice — specifically Snohomish County, where the Democrat-dominated county council last month brushed aside an opportunity to repeal a 30-year-old ordinance banning guns in county parks — that they must comply with state law. Democrats on the council cavalierly ignored the state preemption statute, instead choosing to “wait and see” what happened with the Seattle case. Now they know.Third, the ruling is one more slap to the face of former Mayor Greg Nickels, who arrogantly pushed the gun ban, insisting that the city had the right to regulate guns on park property as though it were private property. A vehement anti-gunner, Nickels is now spreading his view of government to the fertile minds of students at Harvard. Nickels’ arrogance and inability to deal with last winter’s snow crisis cost him the mayor’s race during the August primary. That was a political rout, as Nickels came in third behind two political newcomers, signaling that even in far left liberal Seattle, people can eventually get their fill of his kind of demagoguery. The ruling puts others of Nickels’ ilk on notice that they will fare poorly when they defy state statute. Perhaps what is disturbing about this case is that SAF and NRA, and specifically Gottlieb, gave the city numerous chances to back out of the effort gracefully even before a lawsuit was filed. Multiple warnings came from both organizations, and CCRKBA, that if Nickels pushed for and adopted a ban that he would get slapped with a lawsuit. If anyone thought SAF, CCRKBA and NRA were bluffing, Friday’s court ruling provided ample proof that those organizations don’t bluff.We will comply with the court order and we are weighing with our clients the options for an appeal.”-Kathy Mulady, Seattle City Attorney’s office
Nickels and the city were advised early on by State Attorney General Rob McKenna that their logic was all wet, and that any kind of ban would violate the preemption law. A SAF attorney sent a very detailed explanation to the city more than 18 months ago why it would lose in court. Seattle ignored his advice and lost big time.Lastly, this case was also a big loser for Washington CeaseFire, the extremist gun prohibitionist group that had thrown its waning influence behind the ban. CeaseFire also supported the recently-debated, and defeated, ban on so-called “assault weapons.” CeaseFire’s relevancy has been slipping for a couple of years. CeaseFire President Ralph Fascitelli had a hard time in Olympia recently with open carry activists. This court ruling probably gives him heartburn, while the open carry crowd has been cheering. For what it’s worth, the crack SAF legal team in Seattle consisting of attorneys Steve Fogg and Molly Malouf with Corr Cronin did a smashing job. Their legal briefs were rock solid. The pity is that if Nickels and the city had not been so arrogant and stubborn, this case would not have been necessary.
