Sanctuary city for gun owners
California town of Needles defies state’s strict firearms laws
NEEDLES, Calif. — This Old
West desert town is where the beleaguered Joad family crossed the Colorado River into California in John Steinbeck’s classic novel “The Grapes of Wrath” and was a boyhood home to “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz.
These days, Needles is gaining notoriety for another reason. Leaders have declared it a “sanctuary city” for people who believe California’s strict gun laws have encroached on their constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
The City Council in the town of 5,000 that borders Arizona and is a few miles from the southern tip of Nevada last month unanimously declared Needles a “2nd Amendment Sanctuary City.” The vote had no immediate practical impact on how guns are treated in the city. Rather, the Needles city attorney was directed to draw up a resolution asking the California Legislature to allow licensed gun owners in other states to carry their firearms in town.
This effort is part of a national trend of officials in more conservative areas resisting tougher state gun laws.
The sponsor of the measure in Needles, City Councilman Tim Terral, acknowledged it could be a long shot to go anywhere in California’s overwhelmingly Democratic Legislature, noting the title is a poke in the eye to places like Los Angeles, San Francisco and the state itself, which have declared themselves sanctuaries for people living in the country illegally.
“They want to pick and choose what they follow,” he said. “It’s ‘We’re going to shield this person, but we’re going to go after that person.’ And in our opinion they have violated the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution in many ways.”
But don’t get Needles wrong, said he and other officials. They don’t want would-be gunslingers sauntering down Historic Route 66 brandishing six-shooters.
“We’re not crazy,” said City Manager Rick Daniels. “We’re not proposing that everyone have a gun on their hip or open carry or anything like that.”
The city wants to make it easier for visitors to this roadside stop on the way to Las Vegas and Los Angeles to not worry about facing a felony arrest if a traffic stop turns up a loaded but legally registered gun from outside California.
The city also wants the state Legislature to tweak a law that took effect Monday. It requires gun owners to undergo a background check to purchase ammunition and outlaws people from bringing ammunition into California from other states. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democratic leaders say that the state’s new ammunition laws will save lives by helping authorities discover so-called ghost guns that aren’t registered with the state.