Justices: State law supersedes Edmonds gun storage requirement
EDMONDS — The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously affirmed a state Court of Appeals opinion that the city of Edmonds ordinance regarding safe gun storage is pre-empted by state law.
The Edmonds law, passed in 2018, required gun owners to keep their firearms locked up and inaccessible to others, especially children. It did not apply to firearms carried by or under the control of owners. It did apply to weapons kept at home and in vehicles.
In 2021, a three-judge state appeals panel ruled unanimously that a city ordinance, “regardless of its arguable benefits to public safety,” is “unambiguously” pre-empted by state law and provisions of Initiative 1639, a gun safety measure passed by voters in 2018. Unsafe firearm storage was made a crime, and potentially a felony, under the state RCW 9.41.360.
The city argued that because the gun storage ordinance does not apply to guns in the owner’s possession, it is not pre-empted by state law. Thursday’s ruling notes the Legislature has limited local firearm regulation for decades, citing the pre-emption statute. Under state law, said the ruling, the state “fully occupies and preempts the entire field of firearms regulation.”
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/justices-state-law-supersedes-edmonds-gun-storage-law/