Saratoga approves laws to keep guns in check

In response to the recent rash of school shootings around the country, Saratoga’s elected leaders intend to enact a couple of ordinances on Aug. 31 that should make it harder for guns to get into the wrong hands.

“I cannot sit back and do nothing,” Saratoga Mayor Mary-Lynne Bernald said at the City Council’s Wednesday meeting. Although she grew up around firearms and considers herself a crack shot, Bernald said she proposed the ordinances because of all the campus tragedies.

She also sought to allay opponents’ fears. “We are not outlawing firearms,” Bernald said. “We are not going to be doing search and seizure in your homes. These are rules responsible gun owners are following. We are attempting to prevent firearms from falling into the hands of young children, suicidal or mentally disturbed individuals, and criminals. We are working to educate our gun owners to act responsibly.”

The council unanimously approved the ordinances following a public hearing and will consider adopting them at its Aug. 1 meeting.

One ordinance would require Saratoga gun owners to secure their weapons inside a locked container or disable them when not in their immediate control and possession. That means if a person keeps guns at home, they’d have to be locked up or disabled when the owner is away.

The other ordinance requires gun owners to report loss or theft of their weapons within 48 hours. The city says 17 firearms were reported stolen within its boundaries between 2014 and 2017.

Saratoga’s ordinances were modeled after Sunnyvale’s laws and are nearly identical. Last December, San Jose required firearms to be stored in a locked container or disabled with a trigger lock when the owner is not home. San Jose gives people 24 hours to report lost or stolen weapons.

Other California cities with similar storage laws include Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles, according to Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

At last week’s Saratoga council hearing, people spoke for and against the proposed ordinances.

“I’ve always had a loaded gun in my house for protection,” longtime resident Ken Wayne said. “I’ve trained my children when they were very, very young and we’ve never had any trouble. I am opposed to infringements on my freedom. Your job, as I see it, is not to ensure my safety. Your job is to protect my rights. Every time there’s an incident of violence, like these horrible school shootings, what ends up happening is the very law we institute to protect ourselves ends up taking our freedom.”

The city plans to roll out a community education plan to help residents better understand the ordinances.

Because adoption of the ordinances has been placed on the council’s Aug. 1 consent calendar, no more public discussion can take place unless at least two council members ask that they be reconsidered.