SAN CARLOS, CA and MADERA, CA – After considering the letter of opposition sent by The Calguns Foundation and California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees, the City of South San Francisco prudently rejected an outrageous gun control measure that would have banned hollow point ammunition and subjected gun owners to serious privacy risks. The ordinance was backed by anti-gun San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, who is working to have other Bay Area cities to adopt the highly-flawed ordinance that his city did earlier in March.
“There is considerable legal issues associated with this,” observed City Attorney Steve Mattas in his comments to the Mayor and City Council at their March 27 meeting. “As Council is aware, we’ve also received extensive correspondence in response to the staff report.”
CGF’s grassroots outreach played a major role in the successful outcome. “I am learning through the emails that you people send,” said Mayor Pedro Gonzalez. More than 630 individual messages opposing the proposed ordinance were sent to the City Council and staff, including Mattas, by gun owners through Firearms Policy Coalition’s grassroots action tools.
“This particular attempt at legislation might have been a little bit more window dressing than a real effort to address the violence….in political circles, we would call it more window dressing than substance,” admitted City Council Member Mark Addiego, the bill’s sponsor.
Clearly understanding the virtual certainty of federal civil rights litigation were the Council to have passed the measure, Council Member and Mayor Pro Tem Karyn Matsumoto asked, “Can we make [the proposed ordinance] go away forever?” Later in the discussion she said, “I am opposed to knee-jerk legislation. I was not comfortable [with the proposed ordinance], not by a long shot.”
Especially insightful were comments by Council Member Richard Garbarino, who said, “I look questionably at laws that prohibit me to do things that I consider not illegal… Nobody asked Dr. King why he marched for people’s rights either, he did it because he cared. So, to ask ‘why does somebody have to have these things?’ That’s not a question for me.”
“We’re very pleased with last night’s outcome and thank the City Council for doing the right thing,” said Brandon Combs, executive director for The Calguns Foundation. “It’s always encouraging to see our elected officials listen to the will of their constituents and come down on the side of civil rights. This just shows what’s possible when gun owners and organizations like ours work hard, together.”
A recorded video of the March 27 City Council meeting can be viewed at http://ci-ssf-ca.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=3&clip_id=645.
