According to the Daily Weekly, Nickels is "moving forward" with his decision to ban guns on city-owned property despite opposition from citizens and state government leaders alike, and the ban could go into effect as soon as May. As the Weekly's Don Ward points out, the constitutionality of Nickels' ban will almost certainly be tested in court; critics of the mayor's executive order (including Seattlest) are looking to state law regarding legal possession of firearms to soundly trump any city law forbidding someone with a license to carry a gun on city property. We predict (read: profoundly hope) the ban will in fact be found unconstitutional. It would also be nice if all this uproar provokes productive dialogue about how to effectively counter and prevent gun violence in Seattle without blatant disregard for state law. more ›

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. more ›