Gun Control

Yet Another Gun Debate In The Times

Supremes Say: Lock 'n Load!

A Tale of Two Firearms

I'm afraid of guns. A few years ago, while covering crime in the rural southwest, the local cops laughed hysterically at my reaction to an elderly woman trembling as she signed out her pistol at the station. They claim I dove under the nearest table in fear; I maintain I dropped my pencil just as ... More >>

Whatever You Think of Their Views, Gun Lovers Have a Way With Words

Last Friday, Mayor Greg Nickels announced he would hold a hearing on the proposed city property gun ban Dec. 15. Later that evening, the Bellevue-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms kicked out a predictable press release, saying the group will happily attend and let Nickels ... More >>

Citizens to Nickels: Hands Off Our Guns

"Nickels takes fire from gun rights activists". "Second Amendment supporters take aim at City". Make all the cute little headlines you want about last night's public hearing about Mayor Greg Nickels' proposed firearms ban on city-owned property, but the issue has caught the att ... More >>

Mayor Nickels Moving Forward With Gun Ban

Mayor Greg Nickels is going forward with a controversial executive order which would ban "dangerous weapons" - including firearms - on Seattle owned parks and properties. An exact date has not been set yet for when the ban will go into effect. However, a spokesman for the Mayor's office said the ban ... More >>

Stay Together, Carry a Gun, Protect the Hill

Frustrated by what they view as police indifference, a group of Beacon Hill residents takes to the streets packing heat.

"I think of the state as a public company, and I am a shareholder—and . . . I want things done differently."

Frustrated by what they view as police indifference, a group of Beacon Hill residents takes to the streets packing heat.

Three Seattle Guys Want to Bar-Code Bullets

Second Amendment junkies hate that idea

Is Mayor Nickels Backing Off On Gun Ban?

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels might be having second thoughts about moving forward with his controversial "dangerous weapons" ban. The executive order would effectively prohibit the possession of firearms on most city-owned properties. The ban has naturally drawn the criticism of Second Amendment right ... More >>

Grisly Man

Lessons of a predator.

Gun Nut

Michael Moore shoots his mouth off, aimlessly.

Assassination on Queen Anne

A year later, there are few leads in the slaying of assistant U.S. attorney and gun-control advocate Tom Wales. But conspiracy theories abound.

Unsolved murder

Investigation into the shooting of Tom Wales moves slowly.

Gun rush

Investigation into the shooting of Tom Wales moves slowly.

Gays & guns

NRA members and queers get together at a shooting range in Redmond.

Letters

"I like to pick up the Weekly and read interesting articles from the 'let's slander successful local big businesses and symbolically save the whales/kids/damp areas' fringe group."

Letters

Cook's a crook

Gunning for Dunn

Can the Dems' new soccer mom wrest the Eastside from the GOP's pro-gun powerhouse?

Caution: Armed Volunteer Litter Crew Ahead

Open Carry doesn’t want you in the closet about packing heat.

Guns in Parks: Nickels Bans 'em, Suits Threatened, Candidates Stand Where on the Issue?

Guns in parks: Because this furry little guy might get trigger-happy.​Seattle PostGlobe reports that Mayor Greg Nickels is moving forward with his (editorializing: very f'ing sensible) promise to ban guns in city parks by Friday. Second Amendment nuts advocates, START YOUR LITIGATING!Alan Gott ... More >>

Comment of the Day: Why Single Out the Good Guys When Banning Guns?

​Reader "Cassie" responds to Guns in Parks: Nickels Bans 'em, Suits Threatened, Candidates Stand Where on the Issue? "Look, bad guys don't care what the law is. This isn't rocket science. Remember that crazy guy with an AK-47 or whatever it was shooting things up around North Seattle Communit ... More >>

Second Thoughts on Mayor Nickels Gun Ban

On Wednesday we posted a little item on Mayor Nickels' gun ban and what the current mayoral candidates thought of it. Showing a picture of a gun-toting squirrel; calling gun-owners "nuts"; it was, to say the least, a little kneejerk. I don't own a gun. I've only fired a rifle a few times in my life ... More >>

McGinn Gun-Ban Robo Calls: More Idealism Gone Wrong

If he's smart enough to wear a helmet, he's smart enough to know he's wrong on this one.​Mike McGinn keeps making this choice easier. The P-I points to Sunday's mayoral debate and asks if the robo calls produced by the McGinn campaign trying to tie opponent Joe Mallahan to the NRA will actuall ... More >>

Comment of the Day: First Hitler, Now Nickels?

For his inventive, dare we say Wolfe-ian, use of ellipses, and total lack of historical perspective, today's comment of the day is bestowed upon reader "still a reasonable man." "For those that did graduate high school...but didn't pay attention in World History...the first thing that made Hitler's ... More >>

Do Only a Few Support Seattle Parks Gun Ban?

​Just how popular is Mayor Nickels' parks gun ban in lefty Seattle? Alex Gottlieb of Bellevue's pro-gun Second Amendment Foundation says only eight percent of Seattlites back the ban, according to figures he obtained from the mayor's office, while just two percent of outsiders support it. The ... More >>

City Gun Ban Challenge: 'Slam dunk' Suit to be Filed

​Not unexpectedly, Bellevue's Second Amendment Foundation says it will sue the city of Seattle, likely tomorrow, over Mayor Greg Nickels' ban on guns in many city parks. "I'm awaiting my copy of the suit to sign, probably by the end of the day," SAF founder and vice-president Alan Gottlieb sai ... More >>

Will a Cold-Blooded Cop-Killing Convince Legislators to Ban Assault Weapons?

State gun control advocates are still trying to bury these​Tragic as it was, the cold-blooded drive-by shooting of Officer Timothy Brenton over the weekend handed supporters of a proposed state assault weapons ban with a compelling case to take to Olympia. Even though police say they have not ... More >>

The Killing of Officer Brenton Triggers an Angry Exchange Between the State's Biggest Gun Advocate and His Foe

Gottlieb knows how to fire an insult​Good thing we're only talking about guns here because things are getting really nasty between Alan Gottlieb, chair of the Bellevue-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and Ralph Fascitelli, president of Washington CeaseFire.

Cover Story: Barack & Load

Alan Gottlieb’s challenge to a gun ban in the President’s adopted hometown has made it all the way to the Supreme Court, and fattened the ex-con’s wallet in the process.

Second Amendment Brief Filed by Bellevue Gun Nuts

​The question before the U.S. Supreme Court, as asked by Alan Gottlieb's Second Amendment Foundation of Bellevue in a challenge to Chicago's gun ban, is whether the right to keep and bear arms applies to all states under the Fourteenth Amendment's privileges, Immunities, or due process clauses ... More >>

The Reasonable Man Behind the City Gun Ban Lawsuit

Bob Warden and his .40 caliber glock moments before being turned away from a community center.​The legal term pro se (meaning someone who forgoes a lawyer in order to represent themselves in cour) is normally a handy way of identifying a kook. Someone who's crazy. A person usually only goes pr ... More >>

Three Cop Killings Are Insufficient to Win Support for Proposed Assault Weapons Ban in Washington

The gun used to kill Officer Timothy Brenton​You would think that if ever there was a political climate favorable for gun control legislation, it would be here. With the state reeling from the third police killing in two months, legislators surely feel the need to do something. A proposed ass ... More >>

Gun Love Stronger Than Sense

Pols are noncommittal on a gun-control bill—even in the wake of three recent police shootings.

Reader: The Brady Campaign Is Shooting Blanks

It's always good to hear from one of the rational gun owners.​Reader Lster921 responds to Double Shot of Requesto: Brady Campaign Wants Starbucks to Stop Allowing Guns in Stores "The Brady Campaign has no right to demand anything from anyone, let alone a corporation. Their hideous attempt to ... More >>

Split Shot

Your derringer may have to get used to homemade espresso.

Washington State Supreme Court Justice James Johnson: Civil War-Era Minors Had the Right to Bear Arms, Why Not Today's Youngsters?

Things were so much better when 16-year-olds could go to war,amitrite?​Pain in the ass though they might be, there is a definite value in having at least one strict constructionist on your high court. Who the better to remind those misguided legal relativists to give the text of the Constituti ... More >>

City's Parks Gun Ban Upheld. But Supreme Court Is Poised to Overrule

Justice Anthony Kennedy may let you pack heat in the park.​The city's controversial (to some) 2008 ban on guns in parks has been upheld in a U.S. District Court ruling today, which overturns a contrary decision in King County Superior Court last month. Former Mayor Greg Nickels implemented the ... More >>

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz Misses Target in Gun Debate

Quick. Someone tell Schultz you CAN bring a loaded gun into his stores. Instant spit-take!​Starbucks has recently become an unwilling Ground Zero in the never-ending debate between those who love guns, and those who wish to make them scarce. And yesterday, CEO Howard Schultz fired a blank in h ... More >>

Jimmy Kimmel on Guns in Starbucks (Video)

Starbucks' refusal to ban guns in its stores is such rich (frothy) comic fodder, I'm honestly surprised it took this long for a late-night talk show host to take the idea and run with it.

Batmobile Spotted at Florida Starbucks

J. Ming Zhu"Caption this, Batman!"​Thanks to an eagle-eyed reader of our much-tanner sister paper, OC Weekly, coffee lovers at a Boca Raton (the reader must have been vacationing in Florida) Starbucks were recently treated to a visit from the Batmobile. I don't know who was driving the Batmob ... More >>

Reader: Gun Rights Are Not the Same as Gay Rights

Not to be confused with the gay rights movement.​Reader John Pierce of OpenCarry.org responds to Video: "The Daily Show" on Open Carry in Starbucks and Beyond. "I am the open carrier featured in the Daily Show piece and I thought that I would clarify one point. "We do not feel that the strug ... More >>

Starbucks' Decision to Allow Guns in Coffee Shops Getting Shot Down, Says Brady Center

​More than 35,000 have now signed the Brady Center's petition urging Starbucks to ban guns in its coffee stores. Additionally, a wide-ranging Brady poll taken after Howard Schultz chose to let customers openly wear guns in his stores (while barring employees from doing so because it could be ... More >>

Supreme Court Approves Bellevue Gunners' Second Amendment Challenge to Chicago Ban

Steven DeWallGottlieb​As most court observers predicted - even getting the score right - the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 today that the right to keep and bear arms applies to states, counties and cities, which will lead to elimination of most local gun bans but could also result in new gun-co ... More >>

Lawyers, Guns and Wifebeaters

​No more waiting for Wednesday--now you can get a daily dose of Dategirl! This week, in a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that State and local governments can't impose restrictions on gun ownership. Herb Titus, counsel for the Gun Owners of America and an all-around peachy sounding fella, s ... More >>

Fewer Washington Guns Are Winding Up In Mexico

​In the last four years, authorities have successfully traced 19,000 guns used in crimes in Mexico back to United States gun dealers. That's the news from Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), whose just-released report (pdf) lists the states from which those guns are being trafficked. Given the ... More >>

Nudists Duel With Gun Aficionados Over Proposed Sultan Basin Gun Range

​There's a proposal by the Snohomish County Council to build a shooting range on Sultan Basin Road. A bunch of folks (including the councilmembers) support it, and a bunch of folks, including environmentalists and site neighbors, think it's a dreadful idea. But perhaps the most interesting gro ... More >>

Alan Gottlieb, Bellevue Gun Nut, Finds Exploiting Tucson Tragedy 'Unconscionable' . . . Unless It's His Group Doing It

Gottlieb​That was fast. Save for a few TV talking heads, chatter about new gun controls has faded away just a week after the anti-gun rage over Jared Loughner's extended-cartridge Glock 19. Duke professor Philip Cook told Salon it's likely because "Those who favor a modicum of gun regulation a ... More >>

Seattle Gun Ban Challenge Moves to Olympia, Where Pro-Gunners Predict Another Victory

Gottlieb​With release of a state Appeals Court ruling this week, gun-rights activists have, as expected, won their legal battle to knock down Seattle's ban on carrying guns in city parks. And as expected they're crowing about it. "We told former Mayor Greg Nickels he was wrong," says Alan Gott ... More >>

Stop Blaming the Mt. Rainier Shooting On the National Parks Gun Law

​On Sunday, a disturbed Iraq War veteran murdered a ranger in Mt. Rainier National Park. Now, a foolhardy few are pointing their fingers at the men and women they see as the real culprits: Congress.