Guns group claims Seattleites don't support parks gun ban (updated)

Correction: an earlier version of this misidentified the website, the Examiner.

Examiner.com, an online news site, reported that the vast majority of it people responding to a Seattle city survey on Mayor Greg Nickels firearms ban in city parks were opposed to the idea.

The site reported:

Scales, reached by the PostGlobe, noted those numbers were essentially correct. But he noted "65% of the comments were from outside Seattle. We got a lot of negative comments after the NRA posted a link to our comment page on their website."

Earlier, Nickels announced he is proceeding with the gun ban:

Seattle's parks department is putting up signs barring firearms in city parks. Mayor Greg Nickels said in a press release Wednesday the ban, which prohibits the possession or display of firearms at designated facilities where children and youth are likely to be present, will take effect as signs when a sign goes up at a park, playground, community center or other park property.

The release said the signs will be posted in phases, beginning with community centers, pools and the most intensively used play areas and ballfields.

By noon on Friday, signs will be posted at South Park Community Center, 8319 8th Ave. S; Garfield Community Center, 2323 E. Cherry St.; and Bitter Lake Community Center, 13035 Linden Ave. N.

 All designated facilities will be posted by Dec. 1.

Gun rights activists,  however, told the PostGlobe they will sue once the ban takes effect.

Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, told the PostGlobe last month that the groups have already identified Seattle residents who would be the plaintiffs in a lawsuit and the groups will indeed sue if the rule goes into effect.

Mayoral candidates Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan were not immediately available for comment about whether they would continue the policy if elected.

He said the city believes that Seattle is the owner of city property and came impose the limitation, particularly those at which children and youth are likely to be present. 

Gottlieb argued that’s not the case with public parks. “The parks are the property of the citizens of Seattle,” he said. “Mayor Nickels does not own the parks.”

As the PostGlobe reported in July, the Seattle Center policy angered some gun rights advocates who considered openly defying the policy at the Bite of Seattle. Gottlieb said gun rights groups haven’t sued over the leasing requirement because the prohibition hasn’t actually been enforced against people carrying permitted firearms.

In Wednesday's release, Nickels said,“When children and families visit a Seattle Parks and Recreation pool, playground, community center or other facility, they are entitled to a reasonable expectation of safety,” said Nickels. “It’s common sense to prohibit guns in places where kids and young adults play and learn.”

According ot the release, anyone who enters one of the posted facilities with a gun will be asked by Parks personnel or Seattle police officers to leave the areas where firearms are prohibited. If they refuse to leave, they may be subject to citation or arrest for criminal trespass by Seattle police. Designated facilities that will be covered by the rule include:

•         26 community centers

•         four environmental learning centers

•         10 pools

•         30 wading pools and water play areas

•         two small craft centers

•         two specialized facilities (tennis center, performing arts center)

•         139 playgrounds and play areas

•         213 ballfields

•         six late night recreation sites

•         three teen life centers

•         82 outdoor tennis and basketball courts

•         two skateparks

•         five golf courses

•         nine swimming beaches

NIckels said that in 2008, more than 1.8 million people visited and attended programs in Parks-owned community centers, pools, teen life centers and environmental learning centers. More than 108,000 children and youth visited wading pools and more than 59,000 youth events were scheduled at sports fields.

He pointed to a number of incidents as justification.

• In June, a group of teen boys flashed a gun at several girls outside of the Alki Community Center.

• Last December, a former Franklin High School basketball player was shot in the face outside the Garfield Community Center.

• In 2004, a woman was shot dead at a Red Cross shelter set up in the Miller Community Center on Capitol Hill.

• After a man shot and injured three people at the 2008 Folklife Festival, Nickels directed city departments to evaluate rules, policies and leases related to guns. The suspect in last year’s shooting had a concealed weapons permit and a history of mental health problems.

Nickels' release also said that a recent study by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that people who carried guns for self-defense were 4.5 times more likely to be shot during an assault than those not possessing guns. This study shows that guns increase the risk of injury and death even if those guns are possessed for lawful self-defense purposes only.

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