HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-21-2018 Supplemental attachment -firearms
CITY OF SARATOGA
Memorandum
To: Mayor Bernald & Members of the Saratoga City Council
From: Debbie Bretschneider, Interim City Clerk
Date: November 21, 2018
Subject: 1.4. Ordinance Establishing Regulations for Storage of Firearms
(Written Communications)
After publication of the agenda packet for the November 21, 2018 City Council Meeting, the
attached written communications was received for 1.4. Ordinance Establishing Regulations for
Storage of Firearms
1
Debbie Bretschneider
From:City Council
Sent:Thursday, November 15, 2018 3:21 PM
To:Howard Miller; Manny Cappello; Emily Lo; Mary-Lynne Bernald; Rishi Kumar; James Lindsay; Crystal
Bothelio; Debbie Bretschneider
Subject:FW: Online Form Submittal: Proposed Firearm Storage Ordinance
From: noreply@civicplus.com
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2018 3:21:19 PM (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
To: City Council
Subject: Online Form Submittal: Proposed Firearm Storage Ordinance
Proposed Firearm Storage Ordinance
Please share your feedback on the proposed firearm storage ordinance. All comments will be provided to the Saratog
Council for consideration at the City Council meeting on Wednesday, November 7 at 7:00 p.m. in the Saratoga Civic
Theater, 13777 Fruitvale Avenue.
First
Name
Jonathan
Last Name Hsu
Email
Address
jonathanyhsu@gmail.com
Phone
Number
408-839-8827
Address 12497 Parker Ranch Ct
City Saratoga
State CA
Zip Code 95070
Comments Foremost, this comment section mistakenly indicates that these comments are for the Nov 7th meeting, which has a
passed. I am assuming this comments form is for the next meeting. The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Dept can conf
Saratoga has numerous incidents of violent crime. In 2017, Saratoga had 33 assaults, 2 homicides, 3 rapes, 6 robb
and 22 aggravated assaults, with the trend indicating these numbers are rising [1]. In essence, the proposed ordina
trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist by endangering residents to an already rising crime rate. I cannot find an
of any children being injured or killed by an improperly stored firearm within Saratoga. Empirically, it can be argued
owners in Saratoga are already responsibly storing their firearms because there are no deaths on record, and thus
2
ordinance is not helpful. This ordinance would only exacerbate the issue with rising violent crime by depriving law-a
Saratogans of the means to legally defend themselves. In particular, residents who qualify under the Americans wit
Disabilities Act would be unduly and unfairly restricted from being able to access and load their firearms. Finally, thi
ordinance makes no provisions for anyone who does not have children, further evidence that this ordinance is poorl
out. Saratoga does not have a problem with children dying from improperly stored firearms; it has a crime problem w
residents encountered 66 serious violent crimes out of a total population of only 30,905 (or 213 violent crimes per 1
capita). Lowering this number should be the goal of the City Council, not passing laws that make the problem worse
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