Saratogans question need for local gun regulations

There was a small turnout but there were lots of questions for city leaders at a firearm safety meeting held Tuesday night in Saratoga.

Just over a dozen residents showed up for the community meeting, with several asking why the city is considering adopting a firearm storage and reporting ordinance.

“We’re aware children can get weapons,” Mayor Mary-Lynne Bernald said. “This is an opportunity to say these are steps we as Saratoga residents can take to keep guns away from children. We are not looking to remove anyone’s gun rights.”

The proposed ordinance would require gun owners to report lost or stolen guns within 48 hours of learning a weapon is missing. It also specifies that guns must be locked or disabled when they’re not in the owner’s “immediate control and possession.”

“A lot of times we define that as within arm’s reach,” Santa Clara County sheriff’s Capt. Rich Urena said.

A resident who supports locking or disabling firearms demonstrated that a gun lockbox can be opened in seconds if the owner programs it with a simple code like “1-2-3-4.”

But two seconds to open a lockbox is too long, resident Tom Coe said.

“I’m confronted with an intruder and I have to tell him wait, I’ve got to go get my firearm,” Coe questioned.

California does not currently have a firearm storage law, Saratoga City Manager James Lindsay said. But the state does have a five-day reporting requirement for lost or stolen weapons. So, several people wanted to know why Saratoga is proposing a two-day reporting period.

“To have a firearm on the street that no one is searching for — a lot can happen in that five days,” Lindsay said. “Two days seems like a more reasonable period.”

Sunnyvale has a two-day reporting period and San Jose gives residents just 24 hours to report lost or stolen firearms.

“It seems like a nobrainer,” resident Susan Levin said. “If it’s missing you report it.”

Enforcement was also discussed, with Lindsay saying, “The sheriff isn’t going to knock on your door to enforce this ordinance. It’s not meant to be a punitive ordinance, it’s an infraction.”

Infractions carry a maximum $100 fine and the City Council will decide later if any penalties are attached to the proposed ordinance, if it’s approved.

The Santa Clara County Public Health Department reports that an average of 81 county residents were killed annually by gun violence between 2012 and 2016.

Health officials said that suicide and self-inflicted injuries also account for most of the county’s firearm-related deaths — a painful topic that residents discussed Tuesday..

“When I was in the fifth grade I had a friend who killed himself with his dad’s gun,” Aidan Rodriguez-Swanson said. “Had that gun been locked up he might still be with us now. To think kids that age have access to firearms and pull the trigger is incomprehensible.”

The residents’ comments and answers to their questions will be included in a staff report and online materials that are being prepared in advance of the June 20 Saratoga City Council meeting. That’s when the council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the proposed ordinance and decide if it becomes city law.