Morro Bay council to pursue new gun safety measures — including a buyback program
The Morro Bay City Council is moving forward with a series of measures designed to prevent gun violence, including safe firearm storage and buyback programs.
The council voted 4-1 on April 13 to pursue a series of new polices around firearm use.
Councilman Jeff Heller was the sole “no” vote, saying he believes existing California law on gun control — considered the strictest in the country, a staff report noted — is sufficient.
However, Heller supported exploring a gun buyback program in a separate 5-0 council vote.
Councilmember Dawn Addis, who brought the topic to the City Council for discussion, is an advocate for gun control who attended a national gun violence rally in Las Vegas in 2019 hosted by former U.S. Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and the student-led organization March For Our Lives.
“The city of Morro Bay feels very safe, and this is a hard issue to talk about, and it could be easy to just ignore it and hope that nothing happens here,” Addis said at the meeting. “But hope really isn’t much of a plan.”
Morro Bay to pursue gun safety initiatives
State law requires firearms to be secured or disabled when kept in homes occupied by people who can’t legally possess a gun.
The city of Morro Bay will pursue a law similar to one in San Francisco that requires “all unattended firearms in a residence” to be in a locked container or equipped with a locking device to prevent access by unauthorized users.
In addition, Morro Bay plans to offer in-person community training on firearm issues such as “safety, storage, state laws, and local ordinances,” a staff report noted.
Officers could potentially lead courses on firearms safety and awareness classes, funded through private donations and/or support from nonprofit organizations. Firearms safety training could also potentially be offered for parents and students at Morro Bay High School.
The city plans to actively take part in lobbying for gun control at the state and federal level —advocating on issues such as a federal ban on assault weapons, supported by President Joe Biden, and a state tax on guns and munitions supported by California Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael.
The Morro Bay council will also look into buying guns back from the community through an annual program. A city staff report estimated that the city could purchase 142 firearms for $15,000, in order to remove the weapons from circulation or re-purpose them through “firearm destruction, refurbishment or safekeeping for historical purposes.”
Mass shootings prompt City Council vote
Speaking about the inspiration behind the new gun safety measures, Addis cited the mass shooting near UC Santa Barbara in 2014 that left seven people dead — including 20-year-old college student Christopher Michaels-Martinez, a San Luis Obispo High School graduate and Los Osos native.
City staff also expressed fear in the wake of 2019 shooting at a Virginia Beach municipal building in which a city employee killed 12 people that a similar incident could happen locally, Addis said.
The staff report noted several other high profile mass shootings as well.
Addis cited data showing that 60% of gun-related deaths are suicides, and she mentioned a recent Morro Bay drive-by shooting incident. Nobody was hurt in the February incident.
“There are families in Morro Bay who have experienced this tragedy or will experience this tragedy in the future,” Addis said. “Even through we’re (a small city), our voices matter and our votes matter.”
Addis also said she personally was the target of a “credible death” threat from a man with a “considerable amount of ammunition.” The man, San Luis Obispo resident Daniel Phares, was convicted of posting a death threat to SLO Women’s March organizers in 2018.
United States sees rise in firearm violence
Speaking in support of Addis’s recommendations, Councilmember Robert “Red” Davis said at the April 13 meeting that “while we can’t do everything, we can do something.”
While recognizing the impact and devastation of gun violence, Heller said he wishes the city could stop mass shootings, gun-related suicides and other incidents involving firearms, but added that it’s “not something you can legislate.”
“I’m very proud of the gun control legislation in place,” Heller said. “A lot of these policies are well-intended, but I’m not sure they can do a lot to help the issue. ... But I do support the concept and looking more closely at a buy-back program.”
Morro Bay Mayor John Headding said he disagrees with the perspective that gun safety should only be dealt with at the federal level, he said.
“I think (addressing gun violence is) not only appropriate, but very timely, from a national perspective and what’s going on in the country with an increase in shootings,” Headding said.
The United States saw an unprecedented spike in homicides in 2020, the Washington Post reported, largely due to gun violence. And the nation has reported at least 50 mass shootings since March 16, when a total of eight people were shot and killed at three Atlanta area spas, according to CNN.
Rita Casaverde spoke in public comment at the meeting, saying gun safety is an issue that affects the country and a mass shooting could affect the San Luis Obispo County community.
“I would really like to ask the City Council members to take action and support this any way that you can because this is an actual issue and everyone in the community and around the country is wondering ‘Who’s going to be next?’ and ‘What’s going to happen in our household and our schools?’” Casaverde said. “Cities like your willing to have this conversation is where change is going to happen.”
This story was originally published April 21, 2021 at 11:01 AM.
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