The Lafayette City Council will discuss enacting an ordinance requiring city gun owners to store their firearms in a locked container or use a safety lock.
A city staff report says similar laws are in place in nearby municipalities, such as Antioch, Alameda, Berkeley, Dublin, Moraga, Oakland, Orinda, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Cruz, South San Francisco and Walnut Creek.
The ordinance wouldn’t apply when people are legally carrying firearms or when it’s in their immediate possession or control.
Violations would be considered misdemeanors. They could also be considered a violation of probation and may be utilized in child custody and civil lawsuits.
Lafayette’s Crime Prevention Commission reviewed the proposed ordinance in October and concluded the city could face legal challenges to the ordinance and suggested “alternative approaches to ensure gun safety in Lafayette.”
“The commission supports developing public education focused on safe gun storage and overall gun safety,” the report says. “Education, a proclamation, and other options may be available to support our community in this effort.”
The staff report says the ordinance would seek to “decrease the risk of harm to children and the entire community. The safe storage ordinance is consistent with, and builds upon, existing state law by requiring gun owners to always use safety devices when storing a firearm in their residence.
“The ordinance fills an important gap in existing law and aims to reduce accidental gun shootings, gun-related homicides and suicides, and the theft of unsecured firearms.”
The Lafayette City Council meets virtually at 6 p.m. Monday and can be joined at http://bit.ly/LoveLafayetteYouTube.
I thought this was a state law anyway?
When seconds count, the police are minutes away.
I don’t keep all of my guns locked up. A few are loaded and ready to go. If someone is breaking into my house, I don’t want to have to fumble around with a lock to get a gun. Our safe is older too (which is where most of the guns are kept) and can be very finicky to open. We don’t have children in the home, so that’s not an issue. Theft is my only concern with not having them all locked up, unless my dog learns how to use a gun.
FWIW, every time I’ve bought a gun I had to sign a paper saying it would be locked up in a safe. They all have been at one point or another, so I wasn’t lying.
That’s already state and federal regulations.
There is no federal law requiring you to lock up your guns!
Think all you say but don’t say all you think…
We should also support education on food cooking and food storage safety. Spoiled food can hurt children. An ordinance would seek to “decrease the risk of harm to children and the entire community.
Bad parents can hurt kids too. Got to get a license to have kids now.
Some wouldn’t pass the test.
62% of gun deaths in the USA are suicides. I’m all for safe storage and securing firearms but let’s get real.
More than half the problem isn’t violence… it’s mentally unstable people who should not have access to a gun anyway, and if they didn’t they’d find a bottle of sleeping pills, a hang noose , a tall building or a bridge.
Gun safety is fine, but if you want to solve the problem of gun “violence” the place to start is to STOP letting criminals out of jail!
Better get that key surgically attached to one’s hand.
The ordinance should be gun stored/hidden,locked at owner’s choice,. at least 8 feet off the ground level so kids can’t reach it even with a chair.
I’m all for education and common sense. I think there should also be another ordinance for people who use their helper monkeys in firearm protection. These animals should be trained in overall gun safety to decrease the risk of harm to children and the entire community.
Always make sure you have a safe backstop or it’s no banana for you!
Your idea is appealing
I’ll tell Travon to wait for me to get my
gun as he and his homies kick down
my door and rape my wife and daughter.
Gun safety: keep your booger hook off the bang button until you’re ready to destroy your target.