Firearms Lawyer

We are currently investigating a pattern of county and local governments enacting emergency power provisions that violate RCW 9.41.290, the Washington State preemption statute.  For example, the City of Yakima just repealed or amended certain laws that violated the state preemption law but we learned subsequently that the City Attorney’s Office advised the City to retain the following emergency powers:Chapter 6.06

EMERGENCY POWERS OF MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL AND CITY MANAGER

(7) An order prohibiting the possession of firearms or any other deadly weapon by a person (other than a law enforcement officer) in a place other than that person’s place of residence or business;

Such statutory provisions are in direct violation of State Preemption:

The state of Washington hereby fully occupies and preempts the entire field of firearms regulation within the boundaries of the state, including the registration, licensing, possession, purchase, sale, acquisition, transfer, discharge, and transportation of firearms, or any other element relating to firearms or parts thereof, including ammunition and reloader components. Cities, towns, and counties or other municipalities may enact only those laws and ordinances relating to firearms that are specifically authorized by state law, as in RCW 9.41.300, and are consistent with this chapter. Such local ordinances shall have the same penalty as provided for by state law. Local laws and ordinances that are inconsistent with, more restrictive than, or exceed the requirements of state law shall not be enacted and are preempted and repealed, regardless of the nature of the code, charter, or home rule status of such city, town, county, or municipality.

Yakima no longer has such a statute on the books.  But King County Code presently includes the following:

B. Upon the proclamation of an emergency by the executive, and during the existence of such emergency, the executive may make and proclaim any or all of the following orders:

9. An order prohibiting the carrying or possession of firearms or any instrument which is capable of producing bodily harm and which is carried or possessed with intent to use the same to cause such harm; provided that any such order shall not apply to peace officers or military personnel engaged in the performance of their official duties;

King County Code 12.52.030 (9)

Contact your local law enforcement and city and county lawmakers if such a law has been enacted where you live and contact us to let us know what responses, if any, that you receive.  We have been involved professionally with clients and citizen activists in successfully advocating changes in both the Federal Way and Yakima codes by simply informing honest public servants that some local laws are illegal.  Both jurisdictions are either in compliance now or are coming into compliance. 

As stated above, we were told that Yakima repealed the above referenced emergency powers statute and then we got word that a city attorney had advised the Yakima City Council to retain the emergency powers.  We will be posting a report detailing who and what transpired during the Council’s open and closed sessions on September 1, 2009.  If Yakima has a future emergency and illegally arrests gun owners that are lawfully exercising rights under state law (including the Washington State Constitution) the gun owners will certainly seek attorney’s fees and costs.  The federal courts ordered the City of New Orleans to pay huge fees and costs for its unlawful confiscations in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Citizen gun activists have brought about similar code changes in other Washington cities and counties.  You can ascertain much about the status of firearms laws in various localities and other information at http://opencarry. mywowbb.com/ forum55/20452. html.

The Governor has emergency powers that enable her to ban guns outside the home during a state of emergency:

 (1) The governor after proclaiming a state of emergency and prior to terminating such, may, in the area described by the proclamation issue an order prohibiting:
     (e) The possession of firearms or any other deadly weapon by a person (other than a law enforcement officer) in a place other than that person’s place of residence or business;

While the above referenced state law is not in violation of the state preemption statute, residents of Washington state (and our lawmakers) should be considering the way in which residents of New Orleans experienced a massive gun confiscation during the emergency following Hurricane Katrina.  The NRA and many state legislators all over the United States have worked together to get laws enacted to prevent just such a confiscation in a number of states.  Nevertheless, in Washington state, we are at the mercy of the Governor because, although there is proposed legislation modeled after the NRA endorsed legislation, it is unlikely it will ever get reported out of committee!