Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr is taking on the NRA for opposing the city of Seattle’s latest gun control ordinance.
On July 19, 2018, Breitbart News reported that Seattle was implementing a new control to require gun owners to place their guns in a “locked container” inside their homes.
The Seattle Times reported that the ordiance makes it “a civil infraction to store a gun without the firearm being secured in a locked container.” And penalties for violating the law vary, depending on whether a gun that was improperly stored is used in a crime. The ordinance “allows fines up to $500 when a gun isn’t locked up, up to $1,000 when a prohibited person accesses a firearm and up to $10,000 when a prohibited person uses the weapon to hurt someone or commit a crime.”
The NRA and Second Amendment Foundation responded to the ordinance by filing suit in light of Washington’s preemption statute. (A preemption statute prevents cities and municipalities from regulating firearms in a manner that exceeds state-level regulations.)
Kerr is tweeting support for Seattle’s gun control measure and tweeting messages against the NRA’s suit against the gun control.
On August 14 he retweeted gun control proponents Fred Guttenberg and Igor Gorvolsky:
Kerr has long been a proponent of gun control. Following the May 18, 2018, Santa Fe High School shooting Kerr suggested gun storage laws should be the norm throughout the country. He told the Mercury News. “We need to have laws in place in every state that your guns need to be locked up.”
Following the June 12, 2016, Orlando Pulse attack, the East Bay Times quoted Kerr criticizing Congress for not banning the sale of “automatic weapons.” But the Orlando attacker did not use “automatic weapons.” Rather, he used a handgun and a commonly owned semiautomatic rifle. He passed a background check for both and passed a three-day waiting period for the handgun.
The suit brought by the NRA and Second Amendment Foundation is OMAR ABDUL ALIM, an individual; MICHAEL THYNG, an individual; THE SECOND AMENDMENT FOUNDATION, INC., a Washington non-profit corporation; and NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, INC.; a New York non-profit association v. CITY OF SEATTLE, a municipality; JENNY DURKAN, Mayor of the City of Seattle, in her official capacity; SEATTLE POLICE DEPARTMENT, a department of the City of Seattle; and CARMEN BEST, Chief of Police, in her official capacity. (Docket No. 18-2-18114-3 SEA).
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.