Council Extends Moratorium on Home Gun Sales

Gun and ammunition sales in residential areas of Pinole have been put on hold, as the city council approved a 90-day moratorium until details can addressed by the city planning commission.

The council voted 4-1, with Councilman Phil Green dissenting, on Tuesday night to extend a prohibition on sales and to send the issue to the planning commission for deliberation.

Police Chief John Hardester urged the moratorium, citing concerns such as the accessibility of firearms and ammunition by thieves.

The issue arose when resident Rob Miller applied for a license to sell guns and the city discovered that there are unclear existing guidelines for determining conditions for permitting or denying sales.

Hardester said specific language is needed to regulate sales, which he opposed in residential areas.

"We need to put up, for lack of a better word, a roadblock, to prevent access to firearms in our residential communities especially," Hardester said. "We're not suggesting that someone be denied an opportunity to sell firearms but we believe there's an appropriate place for that to happen and our contention is that it's not in a residential area. It's a commercial area of the city of Pinole."

Hardester said that 38 guns have been stolen stolen from Pinole residences in past five years, despite the fact that there has been no licensed residential gun dealers in the city during that period.

"If we make those firearms easily accessible and we advertise a residential firearms sales dealership I believe they could be a traget and I believe that would be a problem," Hardester told the council.

Currently, the city zoning and permitting regulations are fuzzy and some council members called for a clear ordinance.

"At this time we don't have one, so we definitely need to have one so that it can be addressed in the future," Councilman Roy Swearingen said. "Right now there's nothing on the books."

Green and some members of the public expressed concerns that an ordinance could impose unwarranted governmental regulations.

"We can't allow fears to make us take away our Constitutional rights," Green said. "I feel that we do have a Constitutional right to have arms. It's a little bit of a way to infringe upon that, I believe."

Miller said he would not keep a running inventory of guns in the home and he would not deal in ammunition. He said buyers would be subject to a 10-day waiting period and to state and federal laws.

Resident Margie Liberty cautioned the council about violating rights.

"All of my adult life, every arm of government has tried to take away our right to bear arms, to have a weapon," Liberty said. "We are going to hang on to our rights and I hope with all my heart that you people will help us do that." I don't know if it's right or wrong to have a gun seller in the neighborhood, but from what Mr. Miller says it sounds like it would fine. There are more and more people that own (guns) because they are afraid of their government."

Hardester denied that adopting the moratorium or an ordinance is intened to limit gun ownership rights.

"We're not asking to violate people's Second Amendment rights and we understand that they have the right to keep and bear arms," Hardester said. "That's not the issue here. The issue is accessibility to large number of firearms in residential communities."

Swearingen said he didn't like the idea that ammunition be permitted for sale, and he made the motion to approve the moratorium, suggesting that concerns could be addressed in the drafting of an ordinance.

"I think it's really up to the citizens to decide whether they want that business in their neighborhood or not. I think the ordinance should be designed to allow for that possibility. The regard for safety is a big concern in a residential neighborhood."

Mayor Pete Murray said that all options could be addressed with the drafting of conditions on gun and ammunition sales by the planning commission.

"I think that the whole thing should be conducted in the planning commission's arena and let them come back with their recommendation for either a moratorium or a permit process with the conditions," Murray said.