BELLEVUE, WA – Thursday’s announcement by a Kent, WA attorney that he has ended his federal lawsuit against the City of Seattle’s parks gun ban does not affect the on-going state-court case filed jointly by the Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association.
SAF Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb noted Friday morning that there has been some confusion about the two cases. SAF and NRA were joined by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, the Washington Arms Collectors and five individual plaintiffs in their lawsuit, which found the city’s parks gun ban to be in violation of state law. That case has been appealed by the city.
“The federal case, as plaintiff Bob Warden noted in his statement, has never been connected to our case,” Gottlieb clarified. “The SAF/NRA case, which was filed first and has already won in King County Superior Court, remains very much alive and we are confident that we will prevail in the state court of appeals.
“We respect Mr. Warden’s decision to end his challenge of the gun law,” he added, “and wish him well.”
The two cases had been occasionally confused by local reporters because both challenged the city’s illegal city parks gun ban. The SAF/NRA case prevailed because it correctly held the ban violates the state’s preemption statute regarding firearms regulation. Warden challenged the ban on state and federal constitutional grounds.
“The state preemption statute is clear,” Gottlieb said. “At the end of the day, I anticipate that SAF and NRA, and our fellow plaintiffs, will share a significant victory, one we can all be proud of. Ultimately, of course, our case isn’t about declaring victory or taking credit, but about protecting the firearm civil rights of all Washington gun owners.”
SAF is currently involved in major legal actions against gun laws in North Carolina, New York, Maryland, Illinois, California, and Washington, D.C. as well as a challenge to a portion of the 1968 federal gun control act. Information about these cases is available at www.saf.org.