Napa City Council to hear report on possible safe firearm storage ordinance, homeless services update | #citycouncil

The presentation on safe gun storage, a report by Napa Police Chief Jennifer Gonzales, comes after the unanimous approval in August of such an ordinance by the St. Helena City Council. Napa could become the second city in Napa County to pass such an ordinance; an increasing number of cities in nearby counties — such as Berkeley, San Francisco, Davis, Woodland, Morgan Hill and Petaluma — have been passing safe storage ordinances over the past year.

Napa Councilmember Mary Luros said at a September meeting that she and the Napa chapter of Moms Demand Action — a national organization that focuses on reducing gun violence, which played a part in inspiring the St. Helena ordinance — have been following the progress of the rule in St. Helena. Luros asked council members whether they were interested in pursuing such an ordinance, and the council agreed.

The St. Helena ordinance requires residents of the city to safely store firearms when they’re not in use, and carries a penalty of up to $500 against those who don’t lock up their guns while not using them. But St. Helena City Attorney Ethan Walsh stressed at that city’s council meeting in August that the law would primarily serve an educational purpose and that the department wouldn’t actively seek out violators.

“It’s not like we’re going to start going into people’s homes searching for their guns,” Walsh said at the time. “But because they have the information, people, most people, will try to comply with the law as long as they’re aware of it, so then they’re doing things they may not otherwise do. It kind of will change behavior in that way.”

Much of the educational side of the ordinance was expressed by St. Helena Police Chief Chris Hartley — who brought the ordinance forward — at the St. Helena meeting. He noted, for example, that one small child dies almost every day in the United States after they find an unsecured firearm. He also noted that 80% of mass shootings at schools are carried out by current or former students with an unsecured gun, and that there were over 45,222 firearm-related deaths in the United States in 2020, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Research shows keeping guns securely stored does not hinder self-protection,” Hartley said at the St. Helena meeting. “A gun can be accessed within seconds. But it does prevent unintentional deaths of children and teen suicide by as much as 85% depending on the type of storage.”

The Napa City Council on Tuesday is also set to receive a report on homeless services and authorize the submission of a $15 million grant application to the state’s Encampment Resolution Funding Program. The program will, according to the staff report, fund proposals to “resolve the experience of unsheltered homelessness for people residing in encampments.”

The city’s application will prioritize various Caltrans-owned properties along Highways 29 and 121, the Napa River, and various city creeks, as well as Kennedy Park, according to the staff report.

“The goal of the program is to address the safety and wellness of people within encampments, resolve critical encampment concerns, and transition individuals into interim shelter with clear pathways to permanent housing, or directly into permanent housing,” the staff report says.

The council will also appoint members to the city’s planning commission; hear a long-term financial forecast report; receive a quarterly recruitment update; and hear an informational presentation about Napa Police’s records bureau.