joz00
Regular Member
imported post
Disregard this if you knew this already, I did not.
So as I mentioned in another thread I wrote the City Attorney of Bellingham aletter informing them that their city ordinance (8.04.170) prohibitting firearms in parks was made void due to state premption (RCW 9.41.290).
I received a call today from the Assistant City Attorney who advised me that he was actually the one who had prosecuted the case last year with the individual arrested for carrying in a Bellingham Park. He informed me he had come to the same conclusion at that time and that was the reason the charges were dropped. He said he has spoken personally to the training officer at Bellingham PD and informed them that they cannot and should not arrest citizens carrying in Bellingham Parks. Moreover if there is a concern the Bellingham PD is to forward the case to him personally so he can ensure it gets handled appropriately.
He could not give mea time line on when the code would be removed from the Bellingham Municipal Code but did say it was on their agenda and asked me to call him back in a month to follow up. Needless to say I'll be doing so
Funny thing is he asked me at the beginning of the conversation if I was a concerned citizen or a gun rights activist ... I responded that I was both. As a concerned citizen I wanted to ensure our rights were not disregarded by politicians for whatever was politically expedient at the time. Its oddthat hethought the two were mutally exclusive. In any case I'm glad to know at least the prosecutingattorney realizes the citycode is not valid.
Disregard this if you knew this already, I did not.
So as I mentioned in another thread I wrote the City Attorney of Bellingham aletter informing them that their city ordinance (8.04.170) prohibitting firearms in parks was made void due to state premption (RCW 9.41.290).
I received a call today from the Assistant City Attorney who advised me that he was actually the one who had prosecuted the case last year with the individual arrested for carrying in a Bellingham Park. He informed me he had come to the same conclusion at that time and that was the reason the charges were dropped. He said he has spoken personally to the training officer at Bellingham PD and informed them that they cannot and should not arrest citizens carrying in Bellingham Parks. Moreover if there is a concern the Bellingham PD is to forward the case to him personally so he can ensure it gets handled appropriately.
He could not give mea time line on when the code would be removed from the Bellingham Municipal Code but did say it was on their agenda and asked me to call him back in a month to follow up. Needless to say I'll be doing so
Funny thing is he asked me at the beginning of the conversation if I was a concerned citizen or a gun rights activist ... I responded that I was both. As a concerned citizen I wanted to ensure our rights were not disregarded by politicians for whatever was politically expedient at the time. Its oddthat hethought the two were mutally exclusive. In any case I'm glad to know at least the prosecutingattorney realizes the citycode is not valid.