Supreme Court upholds Seattle gun tax The City Council passed the ordinance in 2015

Steven Aragon looks down the sights of some new stock in the gun room at Outdoor Emporium on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016. Shop owners say Seattle's new gun and ammunition tax enacted this year has hurt sales and the city hasn't been transparent with the funds collected. less Steven Aragon looks down the sights of some new stock in the gun room at Outdoor Emporium on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016. Shop owners say Seattle's new gun and ammunition tax enacted this year has hurt sales and the ... more Photo: GRANT HINDSLEY, SEATTLEPI.COM Photo: GRANT HINDSLEY, SEATTLEPI.COM Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close Supreme Court upholds Seattle gun tax 1 / 14 Back to Gallery

The Washington state Supreme Court upheld Seattle's contested tax on gun and ammunition sales in an opinion filed Thursday.

The ordinance, passed in 2015 and implemented in 2016, was contested on the basis of a state law that prohibits local regulation of firearms. By an 8-1 vote, the court held that the ordinance was a tax, not a regulatory fee, and is thereby allowed under state law.

The "gun safety tax" charges a $25 tax for every firearm sold by licensed retailers in the city and 5 cents for every round of ammunition of .22 caliber or greater.

The revenue from the tax, championed by Seattle City Councilman Tim Burgess, is intended to pay for a program at Harborview Medical Center that aims to reduce the aftereffects of gun violence. At the time the ordinance passed, the city estimated it would collect $300,000 to $500,000 a year.

However, the city has conceded that they collected less than $200,000 last year.

RELATED: Seattle won't release its gun tax revenue; here's why

The lawsuit challenging the law was brought by two individual gun buyers, two local gun sales outfits and three groups: the National Rifle Association, The Second Amendment Foundation and the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

They argued that because the Legislature "fully occupies and preempts the entire field of firearms legislation," the Seattle law was unconstitutional. And if found as a tax instead of a regulation, they contended that it exceeds the city's taxing authority.

The suit contends that Seattle's tax has a regulatory effect

Only one justice, Gordon McCloud, agreed that the state law prevented Seattle from imposing its own taxes on firearms, saying the city "singles out" firearms and ammunition for "disadvantageous treatment."

The tax has drawn public criticism from the owners of two of the plaintiffs in this case: Outdoor Emporium in Sodo and Precise Shooters, formerly on Aurora Avenue North near Green Lake.

Precise Shooters has since moved to Lynnwood because of the tax, while Outdoor Emporium has reported plummeting sales and signaled it may move out of the city at the end of its lease.

Burgess lauded Thursday's decision in a prepared statement.

"I'm thrilled to see our Supreme Court so strongly uphold Seattle's Gun Violence Tax," he wrote. "I'm proud that the tax proceeds can continue funding gun safety research and prevention programs at Harborview Medical Center, which is underway right now. Gun violence costs the City and County $180 million per year, and I believe the gun industry should help offset some of those costs."

The money collected through the tax was frozen pending the court's decision. Meanwhile, the city allocated $275,000 from its general fund to pay for the gun research program.

"I'm grateful our Supreme Court recognized the challenges the state's largest city faces in protecting its residents from gun violence and the need to identify sufficient revenue sources to fund its core missions," wrote City Attorney Pete Holmes in a statement.

The Alliance for Gun Responsibility also lauded the opinion.

"Having more information about the gun violence epidemic in our city will help leaders effectively create and implement data-driven policies and programs that will help reduce death and injury by firearm," according to a statement from the group. "The gun lobby has fought to stop basic gun safety research at the federal level for decades, but today's ruling affirms Seattle's decision to take on this public health crisis."

The tax cannot be appealed to federal courts because it concerns state law.

While the tax was deemed constitutional on its face, attorney Steve Fogg, who represented plaintiffs, said that the court's decision still left room to challenge the ordinance for a regulatory effect. Given that Precise Shooter left the city and Outdoor Emporium may be on its way out, future challenges to the law may be possible.

"I would not say that this is necessarily the final chapter in this dispute," Fogg said.

Another issue arose in the course of gun tax argument: the city's refusal to release figures on the money raised from the tax.

RELATED: Court orders Seattle to show gun tax revenue

For more than a year, senior editor of thegunmag.com, Dave Workman, sought an aggregate number of the revenue raised in the first quarter of 2016, but the city held him off, claiming that the information contained in its documents could release confidential tax information about the payers.

SeattlePI has replicated that request and added one to seek the entire revenue collected for 2016. We received the same response. The city has only conceded to collecting less than $200,000.

However, the King County Superior Court ordered that the city release its records July 30.

The city told SeattlePI Aug. 2 that it would release those records within 10 business days. The records have not yet been released as of Thursday.

We will update this story as we learn more.