SEATTLE – Mayor Greg Nickels on Friday proposed a rule to ban guns in more than 500 Parks and Recreations Department facilities across Seattle where children and youth go – places like sports fields, playgrounds and swimming pools.
“These are the places where our children and families gather and it is common sense that community centers, playgrounds and swimming pools are safer without guns,” Nickels said in a statement.
Signs would be posted that say firearms are prohibited as a condition of entry into the facilities.
Nickels’ announcement is his latest attempt to ban firearms from city property. The mayor began efforts after a man shot and injured three people at the 2008 Folklife Festival at Seattle Center.
But an opinion issued late last year by Attorney General Rob McKenna’s office said cities lack the authority to ban guns because local laws would conflict with state regulations.
Alan Gottlieb, vice president of the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation, said by law Nickels can’t ban firearms from parks.
“This is probably his last blast against gun owners on his way out the door,” Gottlieb said of Nickels, who was defeated in the August primary. “I don’t think it’s going to stick.”
Locations covered by the proposed rule include: 26 community centers; four environmental learning centers; 10 pools; 30 wading pools and water play areas; 139 playgrounds and play areas and 213 ballfields.
The city will take public comment on the proposed rule over the next two weeks. People can submit comments by Oct. 4, 2009, at www.seattle.gov/firearmsrule.
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