The Lafayette City Council unanimously passed an ordinance Monday night requiring city gun owners to keep firearms in a locked container or use a safety lock.
The council will make it official at the next council meeting with a second reading of the new ordinance, likely as part of the council consent calendar.
Lafayette joins other Bay Area municipalities such as Antioch, Alameda, Berkeley, Dublin, Moraga, Oakland, Orinda, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Cruz, South San Francisco and Walnut Creek in requiring gun owners to keep their firearms locked up.
The ordinance won’t apply when people are legally carrying firearms or when it’s in their immediate possession or control. Violations will likely be considered misdemeanors. They could also be considered a violation of probation and can be used in child custody and civil lawsuits.
Members of Lafayette’s Crime Prevention Commission reiterated during the meeting that the ordinance could come back to bite the city in the form of lawsuits. The commission reviewed the proposal in October 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 said. “Education, a proclamation, and other options may be available to support our community in this effort.”
The council supported more gun education, but still voted 5-0 to enact the ordinance.
A staff report for Monday’s meeting said 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.”
Gun safety?
Have these brainiacs ever heard of the NRA?
Haven’t they heard of the United States Constitution?
Outrageous !!
They have no right to deny me the ability to quickly access my gun in a moment of rage.
Gun deaths must be growing rapidly in Lafayette for these people to spend all their time making laws that will most likely have problems in a court of law. Can someone share the amount of deaths that have occurred from the legal gun owners in the past few years. Also, I question how this law will be monitored. Routine inspections of legal gun owners homes??? For those that want to commit suicide and their gun is locked up, well, that will be easy to unlock it. Are ropes, drugs, knives also requiring a lockup because this individual could default to suicide by other means. Homicides by guns are from illegally obtained guns, but I am sure these people are more than willing to lock up these illegal guns for fear of this new law. ( yes, I am being sarcastic). Theft of the unsecured firearms?? They will just take the small safe with the guns, or, put an illegal gun to the homeowners head and make them open the safe. That is a comforting thought!! Accidental deaths, yes they occur, and all owners of guns should be educated in safety measures to prevent things like this from happening. Maybe it is time to address real issues of homelessness and actually do something about it, car thefts, home invasions, store break-ins and drug addiction with fentanyl killing our people on a daily basis. Lets have our elected officials focus on making our environments a better place to live and stop the erosion of what is happening to our rapidly deteriorating towns.
This is truer.
Now there are veery few places to put a gun legally,and a burglar looks for that locked drawer or closet that just looks out of place and obvious.And then there’s the safe,too.
It’s like calling all households in Lafayette a “gun free zone” and that is one of the most dangerous places to put yourself.
The city now pats it’s self on the back and says”we tried”.
This is not what you announce to the world,btw.
Watch the crime rate go up this week in this city.
I wonder why nobody is proposing an ordinance requiring people to lock up knives, cigarettes, matches, alcohol, prescription drugs, or any of the other household items that can be dangerous for kids to play with. This isn’t about safety. It’s about gun control. I look forward to following the lawsuits.
Probably because teenagers aren’t murdering their fellow students a dozen at a time with knives or cigarettes. That’s my guess.
So you’re saying one at a time is ok,or 2 wrongs make a right?
Or both….
The troll came out to shill for gun control. Imagine my surprise. This guy has no morals. He defends scott wiener and gavin newsom. Hard to take a guy seriously when he supports drag shows for children and transtrans teaching pronouns.
Did you see the Survey that 70% of kids are in greatly afraid of Global Climate Change? Where did they get that idea? Not from their Parents, something else is influencing them and desensitizing them.
There are many Blacks that have migrated to LFYT and they tend to bring their influence from RCMD, OKLD, etc and you will experience the occurrence of what is appening in OKLD. Having such restriction on lawful weapon owners sets them up as targets!
The gun locks are not only a joke but B*****T!! And “Brandon” is seeking a total ban on “assault-style” weapons! Does he even know what an assault-style arm is ???
Ask pelosi what to do about assault style hammers. They know a thing or two.
.
Largely an irrelevant ordinance.
.
Who will be checking? Lafayette’s Gestapo?
.
Shall not be infringed. Yet, it’s the most infringed upon amendment to date. Makes ya wonder eh?
You are allowed to bear arms. It says so right in the article: “The ordinance won’t apply when people are legally carrying firearms or when it’s in their immediate possession or control.”
What you aren’t allowed to do is leave the gun out on your desk and leave the room. Most of the rights in the Constitution have limits placed on them. We have a right to free speech but can be sued for slander or libel for example.
CHUQ: I think a better analogy for your 1st Amendment example would be if Lafayette legislated that you are not allowed to talk to yourself and slander or libel anyone in your house when no one else can hear or see what you are doing.
It sounds like you are suggesting no people (especially children) have been harmed by improperly stored guns in houses where we couldn’t see or hear them. You are incorrect.
In my house IS in my immediate possession. The fact that MORONS don’t educate their children about firearms is not my problem.
I’m a simple man, I see a post from chuq, I down vote 👎🏼. I have read literally hundreds of posts from this troll and not one is remotely reasonable.
Just another unenforceable law that will only see light if your gun is stolen or used in a crime, then the gun owner will be punished not the perpetrator.
Amen. Keep your powder dry and your guns close sir.
always. Audentis Fortuna iuvat…….no not the bold, fortune favors the prepared.
If all of our lawmakers believed in the Constitution and the 2nd, there would be no need to lockup pistols as we would be carrying them holstered in our waistbands.
But instead, we get a bunch of commies and RINOS.
That’s okay. I still have a rock and a pointy stick
Wow, that’s gonna be inconvenient. Especially in an emergency. They’d be better off requiring the gun be strapped to your hip, instead. “WYSIWYG” … “Out of sight, out of mind,” … “Make my day,” … and so on
It’s okay. All home intruders will also be required to lock up their guns, so you’ll have an equal playing field.
What did Charlie Daniels say???? “now there trying to take my guns away and that would be just fine…if you would take away from the criminals first I would glad you give you mine”
never going to happen
Ahhh yes, give the criminals more time to attack my family.
And how can they enforce it, go into every home and look for guns? 😏