All people of the gun in the Seattle area should be converging Monday evening. From Joe Waldron on the WA-CCW email list:
SEATTLE MAYOR GREG NICKELS PLANS TO BAN YOUR GUNS
Mayor Nickels plans to ban your guns with NO REGARD for your right of self defense. ANd he’s doing it in defiance of state law — RCW 9.41.290, which clearly prohibits counties, cities and towns from enacting gun control ordinances more prohibitive than state law.
This ban will infringe on your right to carry or possess a firearm in: All city-owned property All city parks The Seattle Public Library The Seattle Center
A PUBLIC HEARING WILL BE HELD MONDAY, DECEMBER 15th at 6:30 p.m. (doors open for sign-in at 5:30 p.m.) IN THE BERTHA KNIGHT LANDES ROOM AT SEATTLE CITY HALL, 600 FOURTH AVENUE
YOUR ATTENDANCE IS CRITICAL
LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD
PLEASE ATTEND THIS IMPORTANT HEARING
For further information, call the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, (425) 454-4911
Son James and I plan to attend. We will be leaving from the Microsoft Campus in Redmond around 1700. Another rider would be nice so we can use the carpool lanes on 520.
You can also leave comments on the Seattle city website here.
Update: I left the following comment on the website and plan to deliver it in person tomorrow if allowed:
I’m shocked that a city that prides itself on tolerance would engage in such Jim Crow like tactics to discriminate against gun owners. I’m certain the mayor and his staff cannot answer just one question which should have been their first step before going down this path. That question is, “Can you demonstrate one time or place, throughout all history, where the average person was made safer by restricting access to handheld weapons?”
Despite clear guidance from the State Attorney General the mayor has a tremendous amount of gall to push forward with such tactics. If his plan were to ban the presence of blacks, Jews, or gays from city facilities there would be a public outcry that would be heard worldwide and calls would be made for his resignation if not his arrest. And the same should be made for this encroachment upon a specific enumerated rights guaranteed by both the Washington State constitution and the U.S. Bill of Rights.
I’m not a lawyer but it appears to me that such egregious behavior warrants investigation by Federal Prosecutors into the possibility of prosecution under 18 USC 242, the statute covering the deprivation of rights under the color of law.
I can’t imagine a reason I’d want to be in Washington State, especially during wintertime, but you have a full measure (and then some from my friends) of moral support from here in Texas.
Good luck, Joe.
Did you seriously just compare not being able to carry a gun into some areas to Jim Crow laws? There is absolutely no comparison between this and the banning of a particular group of people. Gun owners are not being banned from anywhere. There is a possibility that they won’t be able to carry their guns into some places. Please. If you’re going to make comparisons, make logical comparisons.
BTW, I don’t have strong feelings about this issue one way or the other, but it does bother me that you would come in from out of state to argue about something that doesn’t concern you. Leave Seattle issues to Seattleites.
Liz, Yes I did make that comparison.
I work in Redmond and visit Seattle fairly frequently. It is just as much my business as it anyone else that lives and works in the Seattle suburbs. And besides, would you insist that “Yankees” stay out of the deep south instead of protesting the segregated water fountains, buses, and restaurants?
And Liz, since you are visiting my blog from the Seattle Public Library you might be interested in my blog post about one of my visits to the library. I was greatly annoyed by the sign indicated I wasn’t welcome. After riding in on the bus what was I supposed to do with my gun? By prohibiting me from carrying in the library it, in essence, prohibited me from carrying my gun for protection of my wife and myself for the entire trip into Seattle.
Good Luck.
Are Tar and Feathers optional?