Mayor Greg Nickels on Friday proposed a ban on guns in city-park facilities, specifically to protect children.

The ban would include playgrounds, community centers, sports fields, swimming pools and water-play areas.

The proposal is not as far-reaching as Nickels’ proposal last year to ban guns in all city facilities. That proposal came on the heels of a shooting at the Northwest Folklife festival. In his new proposal, Nickels said signs will be posted notifying the public about the gun ban.

“These are the places where our children and families gather and it is common sense that community centers, playgrounds and swimming pools are safer without guns,” said Nickels.

The State Attorney General’s Office contends that the mayor lacks the authority to prohibit guns on city property. But Nickels asserts state law does not prohibit a property owner from imposing conditions on the possession of firearms on his or her property.

According to Nickels, the city believes that a municipal property owner such as Seattle may impose limitations related to firearms as a condition of entry or use of particular facilities, particularly those at which children and youth are likely to be present.

But Attorney General Rob McKenna disagrees. In a statement today, he said he has a history of working to protect children’s safety, but “as Mayor Nickels is aware, the Attorney General’s Office issued an opinion in 2008, which found that state law pre-empts local authority to adopt firearms regulations, unless specifically authorized by law. Mayor Nickels is welcome to request legislation to change state law, but current state law pre-empts a city’s authority to pass local laws prohibiting the firearms possession on city property or in city-owned facilities.”

The proposal was immediately condemned by Alan Gottlieb, with the pro-gun Second Amendment Foundation.

“This must be Greg Nickels’ desperate parting shot at gun owners who worked hard that he not survive the primary election last month,” he said. “The proposal is blatantly illegal.”

Gottlieb said his group already has plaintiffs who will sue if Nickel’s proposal goes into effect. Nickels said his proposal would not change city law so it would carry no criminal or civil penalties, but violators could be evicted from parks under the criminal trespass law.

Gottlieb said Nickels has no right to invoke the trespass law. “He’s a two-time loser,” he said. “Half the households in Seattle own firearms.”

According to the state Department of Licensing, there are 238,994 concealed license permits in the state, 48,838 in King County.

The gun-ban proposal would affect 26 community centers, four environmental-learning centers, 10 pools, 30 wading pools, two small craft centers, two specialized centers, at tennis courts, 139 playgrounds, 213 ballfields, six late-night recreation sites, three teen-life centers and 82 outdoor tennis and basketball courts.

According to the city, more than 1.8 million people visited and attended programs in park facilities last year. More than 108,000 children visited wading pools and more than 59,000 events were scheduled at sports fields.

In 2008, the city introduced a policy that requires organizations that lease Seattle Center and other city property to take steps to prohibit guns, such as providing lockboxes at Seattle Center. Nickels says that lease policy will now become an executive order, which means it doesn’t need legislative approval. It will affect such tenants, as One Reel.

He has urged state lawmakers to ban assault weapons, require criminal background checks at gun shows and require trigger locks and safe storage of firearms in an effort to reduce gun violence.

According to the mayor’s office, state law restricts the possession of firearms in schools, courts, jails and areas that serve alcohol, but it does not prevent them in parks.

Because this would carry any criminal or civil penalties, the city would train parks staff and authorize them to tell people they are not permitted to carry guns in city parks.

The city will take comments on the proposed rule over the next two weeks. Comments can be submitted by Oct. 4 to www.seattle.gov/firearmsrule or can be mailed to Seattle Parks and Recreation Department, 100 Dexter Ave. N., Seattle 98103.

If the parks department adopts Nickels proposal, the changes could take effect in October, as long as the signs are posted.