A legally armed citizen killed a teen gunman in anti-gun downtown Seattle. It may be an awkward situation for city leaders. iStock-1354934183When a legally armed citizen intervened in a shooting in downtown Seattle, killing the suspect who had just wounded two victims, there was not a sound heard from the billionaire-backed gun prohibition lobby headquartered in the city, nor the anti-gun mayor.
It’s a rather awkward situation for Mayor Bruce Harrell and his gun ban allies, who would have the world believe guns are only bad, and gun owners are worse.
The unidentified armed bystander remained at the scene and cooperated with police. Investigators recovered the suspect’s gun, which he was carrying illegally because he was only 16, and the Samaritan was not arrested. What’s so special about this incident?
A string of far-left Seattle mayors and state legislators have been trying for years to make it difficult, if not impossible, for law-abiding citizens to carry guns in the Jet City. The city was successfully sued by the Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association in 2012 after trying to ban guns in city park facilities, in direct violation of the state’s long-standing preemption law.
Subsequent attempts by the city to repeal state preemption have been rejected by the Democrat-controlled legislature.
The incident was put in perspective by Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, who observed, “In a city where political policies have resulted in reduced police manpower while placing limits on the officers who remain, it should come as no surprise that an increasing number of law-abiding citizens are now licensed to carry firearms for their personal protection. Seattle and King County have the highest number of active licenses of any county in the state. Coincidentally, just a few blocks away at about the same time, there was a fatal stabbing, which says a lot about crime in the city.”
An online poll by KOMO News, the local ABC affiliate, showed that an overwhelming 70 percent of respondents say their feeling of safety when working or visiting downtown Seattle is low.
Preliminary indications so far suggest the armed citizen’s intervention looked like a “clean shoot.” Here are the reasons for taking that perspective:
State court rulings have made it clear there is no duty to retreat in Washington state.
The Evergreen State has—despite passage of draconian gun control laws in recent years—solid statutes covering the use of force.
Under RCW 9A.16.020, force is lawful “Whenever necessarily used by a person arresting one who has committed a felony and delivering him or her to a public officer competent to receive him or her into custody;
“Whenever used by a party about to be injured, or by another lawfully aiding him or her, in preventing or attempting to prevent an offense against his or her person, or a malicious trespass, or other malicious interference with real or personal property lawfully in his or her possession, in case the force is not more than is necessary…”
Then there is RCW 9A.16.050, which covers homicide by a private citizen. This statute explains, “Homicide is also justifiable when committed either:
“(1) In the lawful defense of the slayer, or his or her husband, wife, parent, child, brother, or sister, or of any other person in his or her presence or company, when there is reasonable ground to apprehend a design on the part of the person slain to commit a felony or to do some great personal injury to the slayer or to any such person, and there is imminent danger of such design being accomplished; or
“(2) In the actual resistance of an attempt to commit a felony upon the slayer, in his or her presence, or upon or in a dwelling, or other place of abode, in which he or she is.”
Perhaps also by no surprise, coverage of the incident by the traditionally liberal and anti-gun Seattle Times quickly disappeared from the newspaper’s website, but not before it correctly acknowledged the suspect was stopped by a legally armed citizen.
According to the state Department of Licensing, King County, which encompasses Seattle, has the highest number of active concealed pistol licenses of any county in the state, more than 112,000 at the end of April. There are 705,000 active CPLs statewide, which translates to about 1 in every 9 eligible adults in the state being licensed to carry.
Former King County Sheriff John Urquhart told KING5 News, the local NBC affiliate, that the ultimate decision whether the armed citizen acted within the parameters of state law will come from the county prosecutor’s office. The former sheriff now acts as a law enforcement analyst for the station.
However, Urquhart observed, “The fact that the citizen was not arrested, was not booked, is not being described as a suspect, leads me to believe Seattle police see this as a legal and justified use of force.”