The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), in conjunction with the National Rifle Association (NRA), on Friday filed a lawsuit against the City of Seattle, Mayor Jenny Durkan, Seattle Police Department and Police Chief Carmen Best over the city's new "safe storage" requirement.
Under the ordinance that Durkan signed into law earlier this month, firearms owners would be charged a $500 fine if a gun isn't stored in a safe, up to $1,000 if a minor, "at-risk person" or unauthorized user accesses the firearm and up to $10,000 if someone uses the gun to hurt someone or commit a crime.
According to the lawsuit filed by SAF and the NRA, the ordinance is unenforceable because it violates Washington State's 35-year preemption law.
“The City of Seattle has been trying to erode state preemption almost from the moment it was passed back in 1985,” SAF Founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb said in a statement. “When the city tried to ban guns from city parks facilities under former mayors Greg Nickels and Mike McGinn, SAF and NRA joined forces with other organizations to stop it, under the state preemption statute. We should not have to repeatedly remind Seattle that they are still part of Washington State and must obey the law.”
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NRA's Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) put out an alert to their members, letting them know the lawsuit was filed.
"Gun safety and storage is a matter of personal responsibility and every person’s situation is different. It is unreasonable for the law to impose a one-size-fits-all solution," the NRA said in its alert. "This poorly thought out legislation is without any consideration for personal circumstances. It invades people’s homes and forces them to render their firearms useless in a self-defense situation by locking them up."
Seattle residents and firearms owners Omar Abdul Alim and Michael Thyng joined in on the lawsuit.
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