Bill would allow guns in Washington sports stadiums

SEATTLE — In addition to foam fingers, Washington state sports fans may one day be allowed to bring concealed weapons into sports stadiums.

Legislators are proposing a bill that would allow gun owners with a legal concealed weapons license to carry their firearm inside any facility that is considered a public district, like sports stadiums.

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While Safeco Field and CenturyLink Field are privately owned and have strict no-gun policies, the legislation would prohibit them from barring legally carrying gun owners to bring their pistols.

Metal detectors are standard at Safeco and CenturyLink, which are privately owned and have strict no-gun policies. However, House Bill 1015 — introduced on Dec. 5 by Matt Shea, David Taylor, and Bob McCaslin — would prohibit them from barring legally carrying gun owners to bring their pistols. That change would swing in stark contrast to the current list of items not currently allowed at CenturyLink, which goes far beyond just guns and knives to include with things such as pepper spray, batteries, air horns, whistles, cowbells, footballs, "specialty coffees" and laptops.

The NFL told The Washington Post on Sunday that it would oppose the bill.

“We haven’t seen the proposed legislation but we have a policy forbidding carrying a weapon into NFL stadiums,” Brian McCarthy, the NFL’s vice president of communications, said in a statement.

As The Seattle Times' Danny Westneat notes, the proposals are among a handful of "Trumpian" ideas proposed in Washington state legislature, including changing language in the state constitution to eliminate education as its most important duty, for Eastern Washington to split off from the rest of the state, and "to end the separation of church and state in education."

While there have been major safety issues at sporting events around the world — including a pair of explosions in Istanbul Saturday night that reportedly left at least 38 people dead and more than 150 others injured — that has not been the case in America. However, there have been many documented issues of fights and brawls in the stands of NFL and MLB games, most often related to alcohol consumption.

According to The Guardian, the Seahawks have 0.8 arrests per game, which is the lowest arrest rate in the NFL. The San Diego Chargers, which have a "zero-tolerance policy" have the highest, with 24.6 arrests per game.

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