“And I’m an aye, so we have unanimously passed the resolution,” said Lafayette Mayor Teresa Gerringer speaking Monday night, after the City Council’s vote on an ordinance requiring gun owners to store their guns in locked containers when they are not using the weapons.
The ordinance is similar to regulations that have already been passed by at least 12 other Bay Area municipalities.
The members of the City Council voted after a public hearing in which Lafayette residents were invited to speak. The overwhelming majority of speakers expressed a desire for stronger gun regulations. School teacher Libby Henry said, “Gun safety is not opposing the Second Amendment.”
Despite the public support and precedent set by other municipalities, the legality of the ordinance remains unclear in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s Bruen decision. That strengthened an individual’s right to carry a gun in public.
Although he expressed moral support for Lafayette’s ordinance, attorney Dan Horowitz – who was part of a commission studying the regulation – cautioned, “Bruen destroys almost every gun regulation out there.”
