McKenna Challenges Nickels on Gun-Free Zone Policy

Two weeks after a gunman at Folklife injured three people, Mayor Greg Nickels announced his plan to ban guns from all city-owned property. Yesterday, Wash. State Attorney General Rob McKenna (defending his office against challenger John Ladenburg in November's election) released an official legal opinion concluding that Nickels does not have the authority to order the prohibition.

The somewhat toothless policy drew fire from critics when it was announced, and the Mayor himself predicted he would see some opposition from the state. He delayed the ban in the face of logistical challenges for Bumbershoot, and at that point McKenna was asked to formulate a legal opinion on the proposed ban. This week's statement from the Attorney General is the culmination of a month's work of intensive research on the subject, including analysis of a case in Sequim that the Mayor's Office touted as court-worthy legal precedent.

Though McKenna's opinion can't stop the Mayor's executive order to prohibit guns on public property from taking effect, it will help the prosecution in the court case(s) against the ban.

We've been paying an increasing amount of attention to November's Attorney General candidates, incumbent Rob McKenna and challenger John Ladenburg; in our continued struggle to decide which candidate to support, this clear-headed analysis from McKenna is reassuring. That gun ban has seemed fishy and wrong-headed from the start. Yes, the gunshots at Folklife were scary, but to try to override the state's laws regarding concealed weapons permits just seems headed towards trouble. We'd rather see Nickels & Co. lobbying to make concealed weapons permits tougher to obtain.

Thoughts? Do you think Nickels' ban will stand up in court? Would you support the ban if it were in the hands of the voters?