Less than three weeks after Los Angeles County’s deadliest mass shooting in Monterey Park, which killed 11 people and injured nine others, the LA County Board of Supervisors sent a clear message—enough is enough.
The board passed a set of resolutions on Tuesday, Feb. 7 that will strengthen the county’s gun regulations. While some of the measures passed create more strict regulations and requirements, others call upon state and federal government bodies to pass similar laws on a larger scale.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, as of Feb. 7 there have been 60 mass shootings in the U.S. since the start of the new year 38 days ago. The board passed a motion on Jan. 31 declaring gun violence a public health crisis.
“I hope that we can lead by example, and that other cities will take to heart what it is we’re doing today, and that they will also understand that we are moving towards better control of at least those firearms that we know can create deadly after-effects,” said Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, who authored and co-sponsored a number of the items.
A total of six resolutions and ordinances were passed, either voicing the board’s support for pending state and federal legislation or requesting county staff to research the feasibility of other regulations and report back to the board within 90 days. Most of the items were introduced nearly a year ago, after a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas left 19 children dead.
An ordinance drafted by Supervisor Chair Janice Hahn will prohibit the sale of .50 caliber firearms and ammunition in unincorporated areas of LA County—more than 65% of the county—and prohibits firearms on county property with exceptions for law enforcement. Long Beach is not considered an unincorporated area, since it has its own city council and municipal services.
The ordinance also creates more regulations for ammunition dealers including requiring a business license, prohibiting minors from entering gun and ammunition stores, requiring signage about the dangers of firearms, annual sales reports, fingerprint logs, real-time inventory reports as well as requiring security cameras and providing a letter of gun owner laws and responsibilities with each purchase.
“Despite claims from the gun industry that firearm ownership keeps us safe, the evidence tells a different story. The overwhelming research points to the fact that more guns do not make us safer. If it was true, we would be the safest country in the world. We don’t have to live this way and we certainly don’t have to die this way.”
-Stacey Mosley, member of Moms Demand Action
Most public commenters voiced their support for the items, though some residents had concerns that the regulations would only hurt law-abiding gun owners, rather than hinder those committing mass shootings.
“I’ve owned a gun since I was seven years old. I grew up going to Harry W. Sanford’s gunsmithing shop starting when I was five,” said Steven Lamb. “Keeping kids out of gun stores doesn’t make us safe, locking guns in people’s houses so they can’t use them to protect themselves … is not going to protect anyone. Forcing people to get insurance isn’t going to keep crazy people from killing people. You have to understand that harassing people who are using guns legally makes nobody safer.”
The board requested that county staff look into a requirement for firearms to be “securely stored in a locked container or disabled trigger lock” as well as requiring liability insurance for gun owners. A similar item from the board was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Congress last year since certain safe storage laws are already in place at a state level for homes with children living in them.
“The goal, I think, collectively, is to reduce the availability and for those that have [guns], to make sure they secure them properly,” said Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell. “All of us have heard stories of those curious, precocious kids who find the firearm in grandpa’s house or mom and dad’s house, and the unthinkable happens. So to create opportunities where we encourage, insist and demand as an elected body that they be stored safely, I think it’s appropriate.”
Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath asked staff to look into how they can place separate storage requirements for homes in LA County regardless of whether a child lives in the home or not. She also asked staff to look into the feasibility of creating a county gun database so that police would know which homes have guns when they are dispatched. Staff will return within 90 days with their findings.
“Despite claims from the gun industry that firearm ownership keeps us safe, the evidence tells a different story,” said Stacey Mosley with Moms Demand Action, a grassroots nationwide movement that advocates for public safety measures surrounding gun violence. “The overwhelming research points to the fact that more guns do not make us safer. If it was true, we would be the safest country in the world. We don’t have to live this way and we certainly don’t have to die this way.”
Two of the items passed were to draft letters of support for current federal legislation. The board will formally support Senate Bills 14 and 25, which aim to raise the minimum age to purchase an assault weapon from 18 to 21 and ban the selling, transferring, manufacturing and importing of military-style assault weapons, high-capacity magazines and other high-capacity ammunition feeding devices.
The U.S. had an assault weapons ban in place for 10 years from 1994 to 2004 and there have been multiple unsuccessful efforts to reintroduce a similar law.
The board will also send a letter of support for Senate Bill 2 and Senate Bill 241 which will require arms dealers to complete annual training and set a minimum age of 21 years old to obtain a Concealed Carry Weapon license.
“We know that there’s been so much heartbreak, so much tragedy as we’ve heard in the comments shared here today,” Supervisor Horvath said. “The fact that in just a couple of weeks we had the tragedy in Monterey Park, the tragedy in Half Moon Bay and Benedict Canyon. This is in our control to end and all of these measures are steps taken. Will they be enough? We’ll see, but they are steps in the right direction.”
All six of the items pertaining to gun regulations were passed unanimously by the board.
Fantastic reporting on a critical issue of our time