The National Rifle Association and other gun rights groups sued over Seattle’s tax, along with gun stores and customers. They argued that under state law, the power to regulate firearms is by and large reserved to the state. Seattle’s measure was properly viewed as a regulation designed to hinder gun sales, not a tax, they argued.

In her opinion for the majority, Justice Debra Stephens disagreed.

State law “grants Seattle broad authority to tax retailers for the privilege of doing business within city limits,” she wrote.

In 2014, Seattle became the first city in the country to directly fund gun violence research, City Councilman Tim Burgess said, and the results showed that gun violence costs Seattle and King County $180 million per year. That prompted the council to impose the tax to help defray those costs; officials had estimated it could bring in up to $500,000 a year.

Between 2006 and 2010, there were on average 131 firearms deaths a year in King County, according to Public Health-Seattle and King County. An additional 536 people required hospitalization for shooting injuries during that time.

Officials say the direct medical costs of treating 253 gunshot victims at Harborview Medical Center in 2014 totalled more than $17 million. Taxpayers paid more than $12 million of that.

While it’s only a tiny chunk of what gun violence costs society, the tax revenue is important in light of a congressional ban on using federal money to promote gun research, Burgess suggested.

“It’s truly disappointing that the NRA and its allies always oppose these common sense steps to shine light on the gun violence epidemic,” Burgess said in a written statement. “That makes today an especially huge win. I hope other cities in Washington now feel comfortable to follow suit.”

Alan Gottlieb, founder of one of the groups that challenged the law, the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation, said the decision shows that “gun owners must get more involved in Supreme Court races.”

“The high court’s decision to uphold what clearly appears to us as a violation of Washington’s 34-year-old State Preemption Act is proof positive that the court places political correctness above the rule of law,” he said.

In her dissent, Justice Sheryl Gordon McCloud said she believed state law forbids cities from imposing taxes on gun sales.

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This story has been clarified to show City Councilman Tim Burgess suggested the tax revenue is important in light of a congressional ban on using federal money to promote gun research, not gun control.

Gene Johnson, The Associated Press





