ORDINANCE NO. 1773
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN CLEMENTE, CALIFORNIA, AMENDING CHAPTER 9.04 - OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC PEACE AND DECENCY, OF THE SAN CLEMENTE MUNICIPAL CODE TO ADD NEW SECTION 9.04.045, RELATING TO SAFE STORAGE OF FIREARMS, AND FINDING THE ORDINANCE NOT SUBJECT TO THE CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT WHEREAS, the City of San Clemente has authority to enact laws that protect the public health, safety and general welfare of its residents pursuant to the police power delegated to it by the California Constitution; and WHEREAS, having a firearm in the home that is easily accessible to children, those struggling with mental health issues, and criminals, increases firearm related injuries, deaths, and crimes, creating significant local and national public health impacts; and WHEREAS, research indicates that these impacts are reduced when firearms are locked up or disabled with a trigger lock (secured); and WHEREAS, firearm-related deaths in the United States are the leading cause of injury-related deaths in children between the ages of 1 and 17; and WHEREAS, it is estimated that 4.6 million children in the United States live in a home with unsecured firearms; and WHEREAS, studies show that unsecured firearms are frequently accessible to and accessed by young children, even when their parents believe their firearms are not accessible; and WHEREAS, 73% of children ages 9 and under reported knowing the location of their parent's firearms, and 36% of those children admitted that they had handled the firearms, including children whose parents had reported their children did not know the location of their firearms; and WHEREAS, evidence shows that the presence of a firearm in a home with children substantially increases the risk of suicide and accidental shootings, but that these risks are lower in homes where firearms are secured; and WHEREAS, suicide attempts often are impulsive acts, with one study finding that 24% of nearly lethal suicide attempts by individuals 13 to 34 years of age occurred within five minutes of their decision to attempt suicide; and WHEREAS, secured firearms impede the opportunity for impulsive suicide attempts, giving suicidal individuals time to contact family, friends, and health-care professionals, and giving others time to react; and WHEREAS, data between 2004 and 2014 from the Centers for Disease Control shows that among minors between the ages of 10 and 17, firearms were used in just 9% of youth suicides in Massachusetts, a state that has child firearm access prevention laws, compared to 39% of youth suicides nationally, and that the overall suicide death rate among youth in Massachusetts is 35% below the national average; and WHEREAS, an April 2019 study of pediatric gunshot wounds identified children ages 0- 15 years who were admitted to a Houston trauma center from 2001 to 2016 and concluded that many of the gun shot injuries could have been prevented with safe firearm storage, increased community education efforts, and other safety measures; and WHEREAS, the RAND Corporation analyzed scientific literature on firearm laws and concluded that child firearm access prevention laws reduce firearm self-injuries (including suicides) and unintentional firearm injuries and deaths among children; and WHEREAS, in 2012, the United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), reported that lost and stolen firearms pose a substantial threat to public safety and to law enforcement; and WHEREAS, requiring the safe storage of firearms will reduce the number of firearms stolen during household burglaries or other property crimes, as about 93% of firearm thefts between 2005 and 2010 occurred during property crimes; and WHEREAS, in 83% of burglaries and 85% of other property crimes that involved a stolen firearm, none of the stolen firearms had been recovered; and WHEREAS, lost and stolen firearms are used to commit violent crimes, are often bought and sold in an unregulated secondary market where law enforcement is unable to trace transactions, and are transferred to others who commit crimes or are prohibited by law from possessing a firearm; and WHEREAS, states that require firearms to be secured have a firearm theft rate below the national average; and WHEREAS, the National Rifle Association (NRA) safety rules instruct gun owners to store guns so they are not accessible to unauthorized persons; and WHEREAS, the California Attorney General advocates for secure storage of firearms using safety devices, such as a trigger lock or cable lock, or locked containers, such as a lock box or a gun safe; and WHEREAS, the International Association of Chiefs of Police advocates for responsible firearms owners to secure their firearms from theft and from misuse by using safes, trigger locks, and monitored alarm systems; and WHEREAS, this Ordinance requires firearms to be secured with trigger locks, in a locked container, on the person, or in the person's immediate control, and does not substantially burden a person's right or ability to use firearms for self-defense in the home; and WHEREAS, this Ordinance applies only to firearms that are not being carried on the person or in the person's immediate control; and WHEREAS, under this Ordinance, a person may carry loaded and unlocked firearms in the home at any time, and loaded firearms may be securely stored; and WHEREAS, the Legislature of the State of California has not, expressly or by implication, preempted the regulation of safe residential firearm storage; and WHEREAS, the Council of the City of San Clemente finds that this Ordinance addresses the risks posed by unsecured firearms in the home and will help prevent accidental shootings, teen suicides, and residential firearm thefts; and WHEREAS, the Council of the City of San Clemente finds and declares that this Ordinance will preserve the peace and protect the public health, safety, and general welfare of the residents of the City of San Clemente by reducing firearms-related injuries and crime; and WHEREAS, the Council of the City of San Clemente further finds it is within its police power to implement and enforce the provisions of this Ordinance; and WHEREAS, all legal prerequisites to the adoption of this Ordinance have occurred.
NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of San Clemente does ordain as follows:
Section 1. Incorporation of Recitals. The recitals above are true and correct and are hereby incorporated as findings as if fully set forth herein.
Section 2. CEQA. The City Council finds that this Ordinance is not a “project” subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The Ordinance does not qualify as a project because it has no potential to result in either a direct, or reasonably foreseeable indirect, physical change in the environment. (State CEQA Guidelines, § 15378, subd. (a).) The language merely prohibits, absent an applicable federal or state preemption, the unsecured storage of firearms on residential properties. In the alternative, the City Council finds that the Ordinance falls within the “common sense” exemption set forth in State CEQA Guidelines section 15061, subdivision (b)(3), which exempts activity from CEQA where “it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.” Here, it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the Ordinance may have a significant effect on the environment because the Ordinance simply prohibits the unsecured storage of firearms on residential properties; the Ordinance will not result in any development or in any new activity with the potential to impact the environment.
Section 3. Code Amendment. Section 9.04.045 is hereby added to the San Clemente Municipal Code and shall read in its entirety as follows:
“9.04.045 - Residential Safe Storage of Firearms.
A. Purpose and Intent. It is the purpose and intent of this section that the storage of firearms in residences within the City of San Clemente be regulated for the protection and health of the public and to prevent firearm access by a person who is not the authorized user of a firearm.
B. Definitions. For the purposes of this section, defined terms appear in italics. The following definitions apply in this section:
1. Accessory structure and accessory building have the same meaning as in San Clemente Municipal Code section 17.88.030.
2. Authorized user means a person who is not prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm.
3. Firearm means any weapon from which a missile, such as, but not limited to, a bullet, ball, or shell, is hurled by an explosive.
4. Locked container has the same meaning as in California Penal Code section 16850.
5. Person has the same meaning as in San Clemente Municipal Code section 1.04.020.
6. Residence means any structure intended or used for human habitation including, without limitation, houses, townhouses, condominiums, apartments, and mobilehomes.
7. Structure and building have the same meaning as in San Clemente Municipal Code section 17.88.030.
8. Trigger lock means a firearm safety device approved by the California Department of Justice Bureau of Firearms in accordance with California Penal Code section 23635.
C. Prohibition. It is unlawful for any person to keep a firearm within any residence, including its accessory structures or accessory buildings, whether attached or detached, unless the firearm is stored in a locked container or disabled with a trigger lock.
D. Exceptions. Subsection C shall not apply in the following circumstances:
1. The firearm is carried on the body of a person who is an authorized user of the firearm, or
2. The firearm is in the immediate control of the authorized user so that the person can readily retrieve and use the firearm as if carried on the person's body.
E. Reporting Lost or Stolen Firearms. In order to encourage reports to law enforcement agencies of lost or stolen firearms, a person who files a report with a law enforcement agency notifying the agency that a firearm has been lost or stolen shall not be subject to prosecution for violation of this section for the firearm that is reported lost or stolen.
Section 4. Publication. The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of this Ordinance by the City Council and cause it, or a summary of it, to be published once within 15 days of adoption in a newspaper of general circulation printed and published within the City of San Clemente, and shall post a certified copy of this ordinance, including the vote for and against the same, in the Office of the City Clerk in accordance with California Government Code section 36933.
Section 5. Conflicts with Prior Ordinances. In the event that any City ordinance or regulation, in whole or in part, adopted prior to the effective date of this Ordinance, conflicts with any provisions in this Ordinance, the provisions in this Ordinance will control.
Section 6. Records. The documents and materials associated with this Ordinance that constitute the record of proceedings on which the City Council’s findings and determinations are based are located at City Hall, 910 Calle Negocio, San Clemente, CA 92673.
Section 7. Severability. If any provision of this Ordinance or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, such invalidity has no effect on the other provisions or applications of the Ordinance that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this extent, the provisions of this Ordinance are severable. The City Council declares that it would have adopted this Ordinance irrespective of the invalidity of any portion thereof.
Section 8. Effective Date. This Ordinance shall become effective 30 days after its adoption.
APPROVED AND ADOPTED this ____ day of _______________, 2024.
ATTEST:
_______________________________ ___________________________ City Clerk of the City of Mayor of the City of San
San Clemente, California Clemente, California
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF ORANGE ) ss.
CITY OF SAN CLEMENTE )
I, LAURA CAMPAGNOLO, City Clerk of the City of San Clemente, California, hereby certify that Ordinance No. 1773 having been regularly introduced at the meeting of _______________, 2024, was again introduced, the reading in full thereof unanimously waived, and duly passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council held on the _____ day of ____, 2024, and said ordinance was adopted by the following vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the official seal of the City of San Clemente, California, this _____ day of ____________, 2024. __________________________
CITY CLERK of the City of
San Clemente, California
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
_______________________________
Elizabeth A. Mitchell, CITY ATTORNEY
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