Redwood City adopts firearm retail regulations

The 600-foot buffer would apply to schools, childcare centers, family child care homes, youth centers, community centers, public parks, Courthouse Square, libraries and faith-based places of worship. Retailers would also have to be separated by at least 1,000 feet from other firearm retailers to prevent clustering. 

“I really do think these are substantial lifts, precautions that we’re taking to regulate and create ordinances that can be proven very effective at mitigating a lot of the concerns that we have about opening a [firearms] retailer while not infringing on anyone’s ability to purchase a firearm” said Vice Mayor Lissette Espinoza Garnica.

While both councilmembers Chris Sturken and Diane Howard said they would favor a Planning Commission recommendation that would have created larger 1,000-foot buffer zones around some sensitive uses, Howard was the lone vote against the measure. She explained she wanted to adopt a regulation that reflected community concerns, noting residents have regularly asked for buffers of 1,000 feet around all sensitive uses. 

Sturken had shared concerns that the staff’s recommendations — a 600-foot buffer for all sensitive uses — would leave most viable areas for a firearm shop in his district. Mayor Jeff Gee noted Sturken’s district, District 2, is largely commercial, making it the most viable area for firearm dealers to locate. 

Ultimately, a majority of councilmembers said they favored the staff recommendation because they said they felt confident the regulations took into account community concerns for safety while balancing a person’s right to purchase a firearm. Originally, staff had recommended a buffer zone of 300 feet from sensitive uses but doubled the zone area after meeting with residents. 

Councilmembers also agreed staff’s recommendation limited the likelihood shops would be predominantly located in underserved portions of town. A table comparing staff’s recommendation to the commission’s shows that about 34.6% of parcels where a firearm shop could locate would be a low Healthy Places Index tracts, or low-resourced areas, while about 42.1% of parcels would be in those areas under the commission’s recommendation. 

“I’m worried if we get too restrictive we’re going to burden our under-resourced neighborhoods with these firearm retailers,” said Councilmember Elmer Martinez Saballos when speaking in favor of the staff recommendation. “Too often cities have, intentionally or not, placed less-than-desirable uses in these types of neighborhoods so I think we might accidentally perpetuate that.” 

The city began its work to create regulations for retail firearms and ammunition dealers in October after receiving two inquiries from two separate gun retailers interested in opening up shops, one in Roosevelt Plaza and the other at 648 El Camino Real. 

Staff realized no regulations were on the books at the time and requested the council adopt a moratorium on such businesses until the issue could be studied, citing national data that indicates firearms serve as a safety concern to the public. 

“Governments at all levels have a substantial interest in protecting individuals from those who use firearms, whether acquired lawfully or illegally, to commit crimes resulting in injury or death,” said Assistant City Manager Michelle Poché Flaherty during Monday’s council meeting. 

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