Judge Marsha Pechman Says Seattle Parks Gun Ban is Golden

Gun-free summer theatre at Volunteer Park.

U.S. District Court Judge Marsha J. Pechman ruled in favor of the City of Seattle against plaintiff Robert Warden, of Kent, and dismissed his case. Warden had brought suit against the city and Mayor Greg Nickels for banning guns in parks, arguing that the state constitution expressly prevented that limitation. The King Co. Superior Court agreed in February, calling the ban illegal.

But here's where it gets interesting: Warden's success in that case rendered his complaint moot in U.S. District Court. So he couldn't argue the more straightforward claim that the state constitution preempted local law. ("The court was presented only with the issue of state law preemption, and here Plaintiff expressly removed his preemption claim from his complaint," wrote Pecham in her decision. )

So Warden was left arguing Second and Fourteenth Amendment issues. Pechman countered that the Second Amendment does not (yet, there's a case coming before the Supreme Court) constrain the actions of municipalities like Seattle, only Congress. And she did not find Warden discriminated against. Warden was able to cite no inalienable right to carry a gun in a park.

Pechman moved on, though, to give her thoughts as to the legitimacy of the preemption argument anyway. In her view, there's precedent for a parks gun ban:

To this end, the Court explains that “the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited.” Id. at 2816. As a non-exhaustive list, the Court states that laws may fully prohibit “the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or . . . impos[e] conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.” Id. at 2816-17. [...] Just as the Federal Courts do not want civilians entering into courthouses with weapons, the City does not want those with firearms entering certain parks where children and youth are likely present.

You may remember Pecham's name from the Seattle Sonics court case. The Seattle Times characterized her then as having "demonstrated a willingness to rein in what she sees as overreaching government officials." This time she took their side.