Proposed Anti-Gun Ordinance For City Of Cupertino Stumbles In Public Safety Commission But Headed for City Council

On Thursday, February 9, the Cupertino Public Safety Commission held a public meeting to discuss a proposed ordinance that if enacted would: (1) require gun owners to report the loss or theft of a firearm within 48-hours; (2) mandate the locked storage of all firearms within the home; (3) ban the possession of so-called “large-capacity” magazines; and, (4) require all ammunition sales within the City to be recorded. The meeting was packed full of pro-gun speakers in opposition to the ordinance. But the Commission failed to reach a consensus or take any action.

When first proposed, CRPA and NRA’s Local Ordinance Project alerted members to attend and submitted a letter of opposition warning the City of the serious preemption issues facing the ordinance. The letter highlights how the proposal would have a significant financial impact on City resources, and because of the preemption problems, merely invites costly and time-consuming litigation while otherwise failing to address any of the City’s concerns.

During the February 9 meeting, Commission Jerry Tallinger made a motion to recommend a number of changes, including dropping all but the mandatory locked storage provision and amending the provision to not apply when the owner is home. But his motion resulted in a tie vote, partly due to the fact that only four of the five Commissioners were in attendance. A second motion was made to drop the entire proposal, which again resulted in a tie vote and no action being taken. Despite the lack of consensus, the City Clerk has indicated that the proposed ordinance will still be forwarded to the City Council without an official recommendation from the Public Safety Commission.

At this time, it is not yet known when the City Council will consider the proposed ordinance, if at all. CRPA and NRA will continue to monitor City Council agendas and will update members as more information becomes available, so make sure you are subscribed to  CRPA and NRA email alerts to keep informed about any future developments.

In the meantime, we ask all of our members to contact the City Council to politely voice their opposition to this misguided proposal. You can contact each of the councilmembers using the following information:

Savita Vaidhyanathan, Mayor
Phone: (408) 777-3193
Email: svaidhyanathan@cupertino.org

Darcy Paul, Vice Mayor
Phone: (408) 777-3195
Email: dpaul@cupertino.org

Barry Chang
Phone: (408) 777-3192
Email: bchang@cupertino.org

Rod Sinks
Phone: (408) 777-3194
Email: rsinks@cupertino.org

Steven Scharf
Phone: (408) 777-3191
Email: sscharf@cupertino.org

Toni Oasay-Anderson
Executive Assistant to the City Council
Phone: (408)777-3212

Cupertino City Council
1350 Torre Avenue
Cupertino, CA 95014
citycouncil@cupertino.org

If you would like to find out how you can get involved with CRPA’s County Local Gunowner Project and how to make a difference in your community, please contact CRPA Volunteer Coordinator Kelly Green at Kgreen@crpa.org.

Thank you for standing with CRPA and NRA as we fight to defend and expand the Second Amendment in California. To keep up with all of CRPA’s endeavors to preserve and protect the Second Amendment in California, please visit CRPA.org.