Mayor Greg Nickels, behaving more like the would-be ruler of a city state than the chief official of a public municipality, has decided to ignore Washington State's long-standing firearms statute regarding the legal carry of concealed handguns by properly-licensed private citizens on city property.

He recently blustered during a press conference that he is banning all guns from city parks and other public areas - places that belong to all citizens, including those who are legally armed - by executive order, which is not subject to review by the City Council.

This arrogant fiat blatantly violates both the letter and spirit of this state's model preemption law that places all authority for firearms regulation in the hands of the state Legislature. He also chooses to ignore a section in the law that specifically exempts any person licensed to carry a concealed handgun from firearm restrictions that may apply to certain public venues.

Nickels apparently believes he has found a "loophole" in the state statute thanks to a state Supreme Court ruling last year. That ruling dealt with the city of Sequim's ability to regulate a private gun show on public property, but that case did not address licensed concealed carry, only the regulation of what was essentially a commercial enterprise.

How odd that a man who has loudly complained about a so-called "gun show loophole" would now be exploiting what he believes to be such a loophole.

How ironic that Nickels' plan would get the support of Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, whose gun control lobbying efforts on behalf of Washington CeaseFire the past few years have been rather hollow since his own pistol was stolen from his parked car on a downtown street and never recovered.

Seattle residents, and other citizens who frequently visit the city, have asked their state lawmakers to request an opinion on Nickels' ban from Attorney General Rob McKenna. All state lawmakers should be interested because this attempt to skirt the law is an affront to legislative authority and an insult to every citizen in the state. Simply because Nickels believes the world, or at least Washington State, to revolve around Seattle does not make it so.

In launching his attack, based on a single, isolated incident at this year's Folklife Festival, Mayor Nickels is engaging in the kind of societal bigotry we hoped was long gone in this country. His "we don't want your kind around here" attitude toward legally-armed citizens, whose individual right to bear arms is specifically spelled out in our state constitution, is appalling. Even the two Folklife shooting victims told reporters they think Nickels is wrong.

Seattle has a remarkably low homicide rate for a city of its size. Credit for that can go in large part to the men and women in the Seattle Police Department, but let's not ignore the deterrent effect of legally armed private citizens. Milwaukee, Wis., and Washington, D.C. are cities of similar size, and their homicide rates are outrageous. Only in Seattle can citizens legally carry concealed handguns, not to mention the fact that it is also perfectly legal to carry firearms openly here.

If Nickels is allowed to get away with this - and we promise, there will be a legal challenge - what's next? Will he then issue a royal decree about parking on city streets, or riding bicycles in rush hour? Maybe he'll tell people how to vote, or where to attend church.

Or perhaps this is merely a ploy to divert attention from his administrative failures and stumbles, everything from the $4 billion tunnel plan to the monorail debacle and his campaigns against bottled water and Seattle night spots.

Whatever the case, it is bad policy. State lawmakers should be outraged at this subversion of the legislative process, and all citizens should be alarmed at the mayor's arrogance. Unable to gut state preemption, he now thinks he can simply ignore it. He is not above the law, nor can he simply make up his own.

Alan Gottlieb is founder of the Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org). Joe Waldron is legislative director for the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (www.ccrkba.org).