Gun rights advocates sue city of Seattle over 'gun tax'

SEATTLE — It came, said Seattle City Council President Tim Burgess said, as no "surprise."

Indeed moments after Burgess called for a vote on his landmark proposal slapping a $25 tax on all guns sold in the city, opponents immediately vowed to fight it.

And Monday, three gun rights organizations, including the National Rifle Association, sued the city.

"The tax is a violation of the state's preemption law," said Dave Workman, a spokesman for the Second Amendment Foundation.

Workman says Washington law allows only the state Legislature to regulate firearms.

"Cities, towns and counties can't pass anything that is in excess of what state law allows," he said.

They made the same argument six years ago when then-Mayor Greg Nickels banned guns in all city parks after three people were shot at the popular Folklife Festival in May, 2008.

The state Court of Appeals unanimously overturned the ban.

Council President Burgess believes the city is on more solid legal footing this time.

"It's very different from the 2009 case," he said.

The new law, he says, is simply a tax on guns and bullets.

"Our tax legislation that we passed does not in any way control the sale, purchase, possession, or use of firearms," said Burgess. "This is done under our taxing authority.  And that's a legal principle that has not yet been tested in Washington law."

The Seattle city attorney is promising a "vigorous defense" of the new law.

But even after doing some research, a constitutional lawyer in Seattle said there is no easy answer.

He predicts the answer will ultimately have to come from the state Supreme Court

So stay tuned.

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KIRO