New firearms rule to go into effect
New rule will cover Parks and Recreation facilities
where children and youth are likely to be present

SEATTLE – Mayor Greg Nickels today announced that Seattle Parks and Recreation has put into effect a new rule which prohibits the possession or display of firearms at designated facilities where children and youth are likely to be present, such as playgrounds, community and environmental learning centers, sportsfields and courts, swimming beaches, pools, water play areas, skateparks, and golf courses.

"When children and families visit a Seattle Parks and Recreation pool, playground, community center or other facility, they are entitled to a reasonable expectation of safety," said Nickels. "It's common sense to prohibit guns in places where kids and young adults play and learn."

Firearms will be prohibited at designated facilities only after signs are posted notifying visitors of the new rule. By noon on Friday, signs will be posted at South Park Community Center, 8319 8th Ave. S; Garfield Community Center, 2323 E. Cherry St.; and Bitter Lake Community Center, 13035 Linden Ave. N.

The signs will be posted in phases, beginning with community centers, pools and the most intensively used play areas and ballfields. All designated facilities will be posted by Dec. 1.

Anyone who enters one of the posted facilities with a gun will be asked by Parks personnel or Seattle police officers to leave the areas where firearms are prohibited. If they refuse to leave, they may be subject to citation or arrest for criminal trespass by Seattle police. Designated facilities that will be covered by the rule include:

• 26 community centers
• four environmental learning centers
• 10 pools
• 30 wading pools and water play areas
• two small craft centers
• two specialized facilities (tennis center, performing arts center)
• 139 playgrounds and play areas
• 213 ballfields
• six late night recreation sites
• three teen life centers
• 82 outdoor tennis and basketball courts
• two skateparks
• five golf courses
• nine swimming beaches

In 2008, more than 1.8 million people visited and attended programs in Parks-owned community centers, pools, teen life centers and environmental learning centers. More than 108,000 children and youth visited wading pools and more than 59,000 youth events were scheduled at sports fields.

In June, a group of teen boys flashed a gun at several girls outside of the Alki Community Center.

Last December, a former Franklin High School basketball player was shot in the face outside the Garfield Community Center.

In 2004, a woman was shot dead at a Red Cross shelter set up in the Miller Community Center on Capitol Hill.

After a man shot and injured three people at the 2008 Folklife Festival, Nickels directed city departments to evaluate rules, policies and leases related to guns. The suspect in last year's shooting had a concealed weapons permit and a history of mental health problems.

In 2008, the city introduced a policy requiring organizations that lease Seattle Center and other city property to take reasonable steps to prohibit guns during their events. If individuals bring guns to special events at Seattle Center, such as the Folklife Festival, Bumbershoot and the Bite of Seattle, they may safely store their guns in lock boxes provided at the Seattle Center. The lease policy has been formalized as an executive order.

A recent study by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that people who carried guns for self-defense were 4.5 times more likely to be shot during an assault than those not possessing guns. This study shows that guns increase the risk of injury and death even if those guns are possessed for lawful self-defense purposes only.

Nickels has urged lawmakers in Olympia to ban assault weapons, require criminal background checks at gun shows and require trigger locks and safe storage of firearms. Nickels has long advocated tougher laws that would keep guns out of the hands of the mentally disturbed. In April, the state legislature passed a law prohibiting the possession of firearms by adults and juveniles who are involuntarily committed for 14 days or more for mental health treatment.

The city of Seattle has been actively working on local, regional and national strategies to reduce gun violence. Nickels is a founding member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which is promoting federal legislation to assist law enforcement in combating gun trafficking.

Get the Nickels Newsletter and the mayor's inside view on transportation, public safety, economic opportunity and healthy communities at mayor.seattle.gov

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Office of the Mayor