City: Guns at home must be locked up

New ordinance intends to strengthen weapons restrictions amid mass shootings across nation

WALNUT CREEK >> In an effort to keep guns out of the wrong hands, the city will begin fining residents who are found not to be storing their firearms safely.

Under an ordinance unanimously approved Tuesday by the City Council, firearm owners who keep their weapons at home must stow them in a locked container or disable them with a safety device.

California already requires gun manufacturers to sell firearms with safety devices, but the state's laws don't specify how exactly those weapons should be stored at residences once they're bought.

Several other Bay Area cities have established similar laws, including San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Antioch, Dublin and Pleasanton. With the new ordinance, Walnut Creek officials hope to pre-empt a situation where a certified gun owner's weapons are stolen by someone who intends to commit violence with them.

The new restrictions follow another series of high-profile mass shootings across the country, including grisly massacres at a Buffalo supermarket and a Texas elementary school.

“There's a carelessness and cavalier-ness about guns in some people that really scares me and makes me uncomfortable,” Councilwoman Cindy Darling said at the meeting. She recounted growing up in a gun-friendly family but more recently speaking to her mother about taking away her father's guns as his dementia worsens.

Those found breaking the city's new law will be fined a civil penalty of $100 for the first violation, $200 after a second and $500 for each additional penalty.

Strong advocates for the ordinance made clear at the council's public comment session they didn't want the law to produce criminal charges, worrying that would lead to disproportionately

more enforcement against residents of color.

“The goal of the ordinance should not be to punish people with criminal penalties, but to change the culture of

gun safety,” Rachel Shapiro told the council.

Police Chief Jamie Knox said officers will mostly enforce the law when violations have already been reported or become apparent during investigations — one instance being if a student were to show up to school with a gun the owner

hadn't kept safely locked at home.

“Let's change the conversation about gun ownership and make safe storage of firearms as common as wearing a seat belt, or not smoking in public,” said Laurel Dobbin, a Walnut Creek resident and volunteer with gun safety group Moms Demand

Action. At meetings earlier this year, members of the group's local chapter had advocated for a gunsafety law similar to the ordinance approved Tuesday.

A couple of opponents said the law as written may be hard to enforce. Scott Hewitt, a Walnut Creek resident, suggested the council

instead invite National Rifle Association members to educate the public about gun safety.

But Knox said the spirit of the ordinance would be to encourage “people to protect their firearms in a way that unauthorized people would not have access to (them).”

“What we're seeing is a

lot of guns on the street,” Knox said. “Almost half of them now seem to be illegally manufactured guns, but still a lot of guns on the street illegally are the result of ill-gotten gains from residential burglaries or car burglaries, because people are not storing their firearms properly.”