seattle safe storage law
(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

From the Second Amendment Foundation:

The Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association are cheering the unanimous ruling by a Washington State Court of Appeals panel that reversed and remanded back to a lower court their legal challenge of a City of Seattle “safe storage” gun control mandate that violates Washington’s long-standing preemption law.

The city adopted its storage requirement more than two years ago and was quickly challenged by SAF, NRA and two private citizens. That action was dismissed by a King County Superior Court judge who said the plaintiffs lacked standing, so they appealed. A three-judge panel led by Acting Chief Judge Beth Andrus ruled for the plaintiffs and sent the case back to King County Superior Court “for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.” Andrus wrote the opinion.

SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb called the decision “a great victory for the Second Amendment Foundation and our case against Seattle.” Plaintiffs were represented by Seattle attorneys Eric Lindberg and Steve Fogg at Corr, Cronin LLP.

“Now we will have a trial on the merits of the case, which I believe we will win eventually,” he said. “A lot of our cases in Washington state have been stalled and have taken a long time to actually get resolved, and it’s because they really don’t want to rule in our favor but they know eventually they’re going to have to.”

SAF and NRA won a similar lawsuit against the City of Edmonds. Gottlieb noted this new ruling reinforces the state’s 35-year-old state preemption statute, which has been a model for similar laws in other states.

“Rogue city governments, especially ones that let rioters seize neighborhoods and destroy public and private property, cannot be allowed to skate around state firearms laws,” Gottlieb observed. “Seattle is not a special fiefdom inside Washington State, where officials can make up their own rules, especially when they directly affect the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens.

“We’re challenging the city’s cavalier behavior because they are not above the law,” he stated. “We adopted state preemption decades ago because it brought uniformity to Washington’s gun laws. Thanks to the Appeals Court, we can now move forward, and I’m convinced we’re going to prevail.”

 

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.

12 COMMENTS

  1. We REALLY need to get something in place to charge these local government officials civilly for using taxpayers funds to implement, then defend policies that, in this case, have already been judged to violate the preemption statute. They know before implementation that what they are doing is not legal, but they choose to do so anyway.

    These officials learn nothing, and have no reason to change, because like every other endeavor they waste money on, it’s not coming out of their pocket. They would be a lot less woke if their own livelihood was on the hook, as it should be. Willful negligence should be painful, and not for the taxpayer. Not like the taxpayer/voter who elected them isn’t the real problem, but there are plenty of good people who are outnumbered in these liberal sh*tholes, and I care about them.

  2. This is all because of Gun Hating busy bodies think they know more about firearms than those who have years of firearm experience including advocating safe use and storage without in your face mandates. Let’s see what happens in court…On the other hand and God Bless Randy Travis…

    To say I am disappointed in the self serving antics of Jim Crow Gun Control joe biden and his son hunter is an understatement. Say it ain’t so joe. How could a puritan democRat like you pimp your own son out to Ukraine, Russia and China and stoop to seize one half of his ill gotten gains for yourself?
    I ask Why? Why? Why? joe. Is it in your nature to take, take take? After all you want the Second Amendment all for yourself. Plenty of Guns, Guns, Guns protecting you and your ilk everywhere you go 24/7. For that and a laundry list of other sleaze circulating around you and your demonic democRat Party ilk my vote goes to…

    TRUMP/Pence 2020.

    PS. Nothing brings me more “pleasure” than finally seeing the long time gun grabbing democRat blabbermouth pos pervert jeffery twobin getting caught exposing his micro penis on camera. That poor poor gun grabbing ratbassturd pos outhouse lawyer jeffery twobin. Now he’s swims forever in the crapper with another like minded self serving pervert anthony weiner. What filth.

    • “PS. Nothing brings me more “pleasure” than finally seeing the long time gun grabbing democRat blabbermouth pos pervert jeffery twobin getting caught exposing his micro…”

      He was on a ‘Zoom’ conference call about a presidential election simulation when he was caught stimulating his erec… *cough*…

      Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy… 🙂

      • Typical dumbass comments. Wouldn’t know a good thing if it slapped them in their faces.

        I’m certain Green Mtn Boy and GS650G were right in the thick of this suit. Bet they’re starving after all the money they’ve contributed to the cause as well. Real players, guys, way to go.

  3. Why was this allowed to go forward in the first place?

    Didn’t the ‘Heller’ decision explicitly strike down DC’s storage law?

    • This is Washington State, not D.C. . Seattle’s tried before to circumvent Washington’s pre-emption law and lost. They wanted to ban firearms on city property.

  4. It’s a great win, but thanks to the damn ballot initiative laws in this state, it’ll be soon enough that the usual suspects: Gates, Balmer, Bezos, Bloomberg, Hanauer, et. al will bankroll a bunch more anti-gun initiatives and steamroller them through the process.

    I think it’s great that SAF is fighting at all levels of government to regain and/or retain our gun rights. It would be even greater if we could see some wins at the Washington State level – to roll back the astonishingly retarded “assault weapons” laws, for starters.

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