Edmonds Mayor Mike Nelson said Thursday that the current [Washington State] preemption statute is overly broad, “tying the hands of all local governments in our state to do anything to protect our citizens.”
A previous effort by the city of Seattle to ban guns in parks was stopped by the courts under the same statute.
[Edmonds Mayor Mike] Nelson, who said he is a gun owner who keeps his firearm stored and locked, said he will push for the Legislature to make changes allowing local governments to have the authority to address guns in their communities.
“On the one hand we can prohibit someone from smoking in a park, but we can’t prohibit them from bringing a handgun into a playground,” he said in a phone interview. “Does that make sense?”
– The Associated Press in Gun Rights Ruling in Washington State Says City Rules Can’t Conflict With State Law on Firearms Storage
