PA Bill Number: HB335

Title: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons.

Description: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons. ...

Last Action: Removed from table

Last Action Date: May 1, 2024

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Are 'gun-free zones' an acceptable form of discrimination? :: 03/31/2015

A furor that erupted over the weekend and continues today over Indiana’s new “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” provided Seattle Mayor Ed Murray an opportunity to condemn discrimination, noting that people cannot refuse service based on their religious beliefs.

The fury over Indiana should give people an opportunity to reflect on all the different kinds of discrimination there are, and one in particular that seems to get a pass. That’s discrimination against gun owners, who have just as much right as anyone else to go about their daily lives and be left alone.

Murray explained to KING 5 News, “You cannot say, ‘You can't come into my restaurant because you’re black and it’s my religious belief not to serve you.’ That is a settled question.”

Perhaps not so settled, many Second Amendment activists would posit, because there remains an attitude of political correctness in many parts of the country that discriminates against law-abiding citizens who are legally armed, and everybody knows it. More than a hundred Seattle businesses, many of them restaurants, jumped into the “gun-free zone” program launched under Murray’s predecessor, anti-gun former Mayor Mike McGinn in the fall of 2013. Is it okay to discriminate based on political belief?

Murray has yet to denounce the “gun-free zone” movement or encourage its participants to re-think their business approach. He supports gun control, and did so as a state senator, yet he has championed other civil rights.

Washington is not the only place where this discrimination happens. Recall the push by anti-gun groups against fast food establishments and coffee shops that serve to legally-armed customers, especially open carry activists. This column and others noted that this was a form of social bigotry, and that in such cases, the gun prohibitionists were trying to bully businesses into being their surrogates.

The “Oh, that’s different” argument doesn’t pass the smell test. When a business posts signs in the door or window declaring the premises to be a “gun-free zone,” as if that is going to dissuade some thug from marching in one evening with a gun and robbing the place, isn’t that a form of discrimination?

It’s not a law, but essentially telling people they are not welcome because they might be legally armed is something of an affront to a lot of people, isn't it? Earlier this month, Examiner reported that there were more than 482,850 active concealed pistol licenses. Of those, more than 91,100 CPL holders live in King County. When Examiner gets an update later this week, that number will likely have risen.

This apparent gun-free zone brand of discrimination is directed at the exercise of a constitutionally-affirmed, fundamental civil right, correct? Doesn't matter if the armed citizen is male, female, white, black, gay or lesbian; the sign essentially says “we don’t want you in here.”

“Today,” the American Civil Liberties Union laments on its website, “30 states require voters to present identification to vote in federal, state and local elections.”

Yet, in order to legally purchase a firearm at retail, some form of identification is required. Where the ACLU cites research suggesting “that more than 21 million Americans do not have government-issued photo identification; a disproportionate number of these Americans are low-income, racial and ethnic minorities, and elderly,” have we seen anyone rushing to court complaining that these same citizens are prevented from exercising their Second Amendment rights?

This discussion isn't about a new law in a state 1,500 miles away. It’s about hypocrisy and political correctness, or more accurately, the hypocrisy of political correctness.

It should be noted that, whatever Indiana’s faults, the state does honor all other state carry licenses and permits. That includes Washington, despite the fact that the Evergreen State does not honor a license from Indiana.

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