Washington State Legislature Introduces Bill Allowing Fans To Carry Guns Into Stadiums

Here are a few items that fans are banned from bringing into the Seattle Seahawks’ stadium: air horns, laptops, “specialty coffees,” personal footballs. And here’s one banned item that three Washington state representatives would like to allow: guns.

A new bill, introduced for the legislative session beginning in January, would allow concealed carry weapons in stadiums and arenas in Washington. In its current form, the bill would keep public stadium authorities, and private groups that operate facilities under a public stadium authority, from setting any rules against concealed carry weapons.

The proposed bill also has a section which would stop individual cities or neighborhoods from finding a workaround:

A local governmental entity may not, whether by law, ordinance, regulation, rule, policy, or contractual agreement, prohibit persons with a valid concealed pistol license from carrying a concealed pistol in any stadium, convention center, arena, or similar facility, or on the grounds of any such facility.

The three representatives behind the bill are Republicans Matt Shea, David Taylor, and Bob McCaslin.

[ Seattle Times]