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Open-carry advocate aims for code change

With gun on hip, he emphasizes to city council his right to possess weapon in park

By Andrea Damewood
Published: August 17, 2010, 12:00am

With his Ruger SP101 revolver at his hip, 26-year-old Joe Winton asked the Vancouver City Council on Monday night to make it clear he has the right to carry his gun in city parks.

Winton identified himself as a member of national gun advocacy group opencarry.org, and said he carries his gun when he and his wife visit Esther Short Park downtown.

“Now that I have a wife, I have someone else to protect,” he told the council. “Esther Short Park is one of the most unsafe areas. When I go to areas that are very, very dangerous … I feel a lot more protected with my firearm.”

But many city park signs say that possessing a firearm in a park is illegal, in direct conflict with state open-carry laws, and the city’s code relating to gun possession in parks is also out of date, he noted.

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City Attorney Ted Gathe told Winton and the council that he’s aware of the code discrepancy.

Vancouver’s code on firearms in parks was written in the 1970s, when cities could decide whether a citizen could have a gun in a city park or not, Gathe said. Since then, Washington’s open-carry law has passed, superseding city code, making it legal to have guns in parks.

The entire parks code “is being rewritten top to bottom,” and will be brought to council for approval by December, Gathe said.

New signs installed in parks reflect state law, Gathe said. It is still illegal to discharge a firearm in a city park.

Replacing all the park signs would cost up to $8,000, so in the interim, the city will use materials to block out the incorrect wording.

Vancouver police have also been briefed that guns are allowed in city parks. Those carrying firearms are not allowed to act in a threatening manner, according to state law.

Vancouver is prosecuting one open-carry case, involving 26-year-old Kurk Kirby, who was arrested in March for allegedly carrying his weapon in a way that prosecutors said either “warranted alarm” or “manifested an intent to intimidate.” Trial is set for Oct. 1.

Winton e-mailed Mayor Tim Leavitt before attending Monday’s meeting, alerting him to the fact he would be openly armed. A uniformed police officer stood in the back — a rare sight at City Hall, but the officer said he was not there because of Winton.

Winton said he plans to attend the Clark County commissioners meeting today to ask the county to also bring its codes up to date.

Winton said he’s generally happy with the city’s response.

“It seems there’s an outward effort to cover up the signage,” he said. “But ultimately, the code needs to be fixed.”

Andrea Damewood: 360-735-4542 or andrea.damewood@columbian.com.

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