Gun store regulations take shape in San Carlos

Sparked by a heated debate in the fall of 2017 about whether Turner’s Outdoorsman sporting goods store should be allowed to open at 1123 Industrial Road, the council’s Monday discussion followed months of deliberation among residents and the city’s Planning Commission on how firearm retailer regulations could be shaped.

Though a new gun store moratorium imposed by city officials in November of 2017 and extended through May of 2019 ultimately ended the Southern California-based retailer’s plans to open a store in the city, the issue spurred a larger discussion among residents and officials about how gun and ammunition sales could be regulated. Since the moratorium was approved, two public meetings were held in May and an online forum collecting nearly 2,000 responses was conducted from May to July.

The city faced a precursor to a legal challenge when it received a March 29 letter from Turner’s Outdoorsman alleging officials misled the company by giving it permission to proceed with opening a store and then enacting a moratorium on new gun stores, a change in its policies the company says cost some $295,310 in alleged damages from lease-termination obligations, planning and construction costs as well as lost profits.

After city officials voted to reject the allegations outlined in the letter in May, the company had six months to file a suit in the California Superior Court but did not file a complaint within the allotted time frame, City Attorney Greg Rubens explained in an email. He added the company is time-barred from filing a lawsuit in state court.

At their study session Monday, councilmembers weighed the Planning Commission’s recommendations, research on measures other California cities have taken to restrict firearms and ammunitions sales and resident input. In the weeks leading up to the meeting, several residents have stepped forward asking officials to consider a cap of two retailers in the city, which would include Imbert & Smithers, a gun store operating at 1144 El Camino Real, and Equity Arms, a private seller that works by appointment only at 1100 Industrial Road.

But Peter Pierce, who was hired by the city as special legal counsel from the law firm Richards, Watson & Gershon, has said establishing a cap of two gun stores in San Carlos is an untested legal approach, while making changes to a jurisdiction’s zoning code has been one way of regulating the stores that has been upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Though Vice Mayor Ron Collins voiced support for many of the measures discussed, he had trouble supporting a limit on the number of gun stores allowed in the city given the potential for costly legal challenges that could follow. Collins felt enacting a set of other restrictions on gun stores could achieve the same goals without exposing the city to costly litigation.

“I also don’t want to put the city in a position where we end up in litigation, that just really helps no one,” he said. “I would like to see us have everything pretty much short of that that’s legally defensible.”

Acknowledging the challenge in front of officials weighing a variety of measures, resident Danielle Lacampagne advocated for a cap on the number of gun stores in San Carlos. With a 17-year-old son at Carlmont High School, Lacampagne said the issue of gun violence has hit closer to home with incidents like the shooting death of 17-year-old Carlmont High School student Mohammad Karim Othman Jan. 7.

“I also wish that we could be a little bit risky and look … at having just two businesses given that we have two established businesses,” she said.

Mayor Mark Olbert joined several of his fellow councilmembers in voicing support for a discretionary law enforcement permit to be reviewed by the city’s police chief, a conditional use permit to be reviewed through a public hearing by the city’s Planning Commission and buffers around sensitive areas in the city, among other measures. But he also advocated for more information on the legal risk and associated costs the city could expose itself to should it adopt a cap on the number of allowed stores. He also wondered whether the city could limit the types of guns sold in the city, noting some types could be more attractive to steal than others.

“I’d like to get a better sense of financially what potentially is at risk,” he said. “I don’t think we have enough information to balance risk and return for going into uncharted territory.”

Councilman Adam Rak said he supported further consideration of suggestions provided by Mark Duri, captain of the San Carlos Bureau of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, to install high-quality video surveillance and gun safes in firearms retailers operating in the city and also locating them in well-lit areas where police patrol cars and the public can observe them.

“The more we can do and more we can put public safety first on that I’d like to be able to do that,” he said.

Community Development Director Al Savay said councilmembers need to prepare a draft ordinance before the end of the city’s gun store moratorium May 12, and noted the council’s recommendations would be reviewed by the Planning Commission before the council takes the issue up again as early as March.

anna@smdailyjournal.com

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