Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is asking Washington lawmakers to consider new firearm restrictions at Seattle Center and other “sensitive spaces” as part of a broader gun-violence plan following a summer marked by multiple deadly shootings.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is pushing for new restrictions on firearms in designated public locations following a series of deadly shootings, including the July attack at the Bite of Seattle festival that killed three people.
Wilson’s newly released gun-violence plan calls for Seattle to work with Washington state lawmakers on legislation addressing firearms “in sensitive spaces,” specifically including Seattle Center, as well as changes to juvenile firearm-possession and sentencing laws, according to KOMO News.
The proposal does not itself create a new carry prohibition. Washington law broadly preempts cities from adopting firearm regulations more restrictive than state law unless the Legislature specifically authorizes them, meaning Seattle would generally need state lawmakers to change or expand existing authority before the city could impose broader restrictions.
Washington currently allows municipalities to restrict firearms in certain city-operated stadiums and convention centers, but state law contains exceptions, including for people lawfully carrying pistols under a valid concealed pistol license. Wilson’s proposal does not yet spell out precisely how far she wants lawmakers to expand those restrictions or whether licensed concealed carry would ultimately be included in every proposed “sensitive space” limitation.
The request comes after a particularly violent summer in Seattle.
Three people were killed and four others wounded July 26 when gunfire erupted during the Bite of Seattle festival at Seattle Center. Police said evidence indicated multiple shooters were involved, with investigators recovering casings connected to at least four firearms.
A 15-year-old boy arrested at the scene was charged with first-degree assault and unlawful possession of a firearm after prosecutors alleged he fired a Polymer80 9mm handgun, commonly described as a ghost gun, into the crowd. His defense attorney has said the teenager was acting in self-defense after others began shooting toward him and a friend.
Wilson called the July shooting an act of “horrific violence,” saying at the time that residents should not have to consider the possibility of being shot before attending a community gathering.
Seattle experienced another violent period over Labor Day weekend, when three people were killed and three others seriously injured in shootings in Belltown within roughly 24 hours.
“What happened in Belltown this weekend is tragic and unacceptable,” Wilson said afterward. “Three young people lost their lives, three others were seriously hurt, and countless neighbors were shaken awake by gunshots, street racing, sirens, or another painful headline in the paper.”
Her response now extends beyond firearm restrictions.
Wilson’s four-and-a-half-page strategy combines police deployment, community intervention, social services, emergency-response improvements and youth programs.
The plan calls for expanding Seattle Police Department bicycle patrols in Belltown, north Aurora Avenue North, Little Saigon and Rainier Beach. It would also more closely coordinate narcotics officers with the department’s Community Response Group and Gun Violence Reduction Unit to target illegal gun sellers and drug trafficking.
Wilson is also proposing a “focused deterrence” strategy aimed at people considered most likely to commit or become victims of serious violence.
The administration wants to transfer $5 million in existing money to improve 911 response and extend the operating hours of Seattle’s community crisis-response program from about 10 hours to more than 18 hours per day.
Youth programs form another component of the proposal.
Wilson wants more than $600,000 for an afterschool pilot program at Rainier Beach High School, expanded services through community organizations working with teenagers, additional parks staffing and training, late-night programs at High Point Community Center and greater mental-health support for people ages 13 to 24.
The mayor also wants Seattle to partner with the University of Washington to map existing gun-violence prevention programs and evaluate which interventions are working.
A separate proposed partnership with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health would establish a Violence Reduction Council designed to examine homicides and determine where government agencies, social-service providers or other systems might have intervened earlier.
Wilson had already signaled earlier this year that her administration intended to pursue a broader gun-violence strategy.
In her February State of the City address, she said Seattle needed to go beyond responding to individual shootings and examine their underlying causes through cooperation among city departments, King County agencies and outside experts.
The firearm portion of the new plan could prove among the most legally complicated.
Washington’s preemption statute says the state “fully occupies and preempts the entire field of firearms regulation,” including possession, licensing, transportation, sale and transfer. Cities may enact only firearm regulations specifically authorized by state law.
That restriction has previously prevented Seattle from independently imposing broader bans on guns in city-owned property. A Washington attorney general opinion concluded that state law preempts cities from adopting general firearm-possession prohibitions on municipal property unless the Legislature has specifically granted that authority.
That is why Wilson’s proposal specifically calls for working with state legislators rather than simply passing a Seattle ordinance.
The legal debate also involves concealed-carry permit holders.
Under current state law, municipalities may restrict firearm possession in city-operated stadiums and convention centers, but such restrictions cannot generally be applied to a person carrying a pistol with a valid concealed pistol license.
Any effort to create a broader prohibition at Seattle Center or other locations — particularly one covering licensed concealed carriers — could therefore require action in Olympia.
Wilson’s proposal arrives as Seattle leaders also confront criticism over their handling of recent violence.
After the Bite of Seattle shooting, Wilson acknowledged that the city failed to provide residents with timely information about what had happened and whether the Seattle Center campus was safe.
“Seattle deserves clear and fast information in an emergency, and we fell short of that,” Wilson said earlier this month while announcing revised communication procedures. “So we are fixing that.”
The mayor later ordered an independent review of the city’s public communications following the shooting.
Her new gun-violence plan now moves the administration from reviewing the response to proposing longer-term policy changes.
Some portions, including policing and community programs, can move through Seattle’s budget and City Council process.
The proposed firearm restrictions present a different challenge. Under Washington’s existing preemption law, Seattle cannot simply designate new areas as gun-free “sensitive spaces” on its own.
For that portion of Wilson’s strategy to become enforceable beyond what current state law permits, the Legislature would first have to give the city additional authority.
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