The San Diego City Attorney's Office on Thursday urged families with guns in the home to practice proper firearm safety while self-quarantining to keep the weapons out of the hands of children.
With stay-at-home orders issued at the state and local levels, and schools closed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, City Attorney Mara Elliott's office said gun safety is paramount.
โWhen you have guns and children in the home and do not practice safe storage, you are increasing the risk that someone will be accidentally shot,โ Elliott said. โChildren are very resourceful when it comes to locating things their parents thought they'd never find. When they find a gun, it often leads to tragedy.โ
The city's Safe Storage of Firearms Ordinance, which was authored by Elliott and went into effect last year, requires San Diego gun owners to store firearms in a locked container or to secure guns with a trigger lock unless they are in the immediate control of an authorized user.
The City Attorney's Office said trigger locks and gun safes are readily available for purchase online and that all guns sold in California after Jan. 1, 2002, were required to come with a free trigger lock.
Elliott's office said 4.5 million children nationwide live in homes with one more loaded and unlocked firearms.
Local gun stores nationwide
have seen an uptick in firearm sales amid the coronavirus pandemic, and
it remains unclear whether gun stores might be
ordered to close locally.
Local
In one of the county's coronavirus-related briefings, Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said firearm stores were not considered an essential business that should remain open per the state's stay-at-home order.
San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said on Thursday that the governor indicated he would defer to sheriffs in their respective jurisdictions for clarification on whether gun stores are essential businesses that should remain open under his Executive Order. Gore said he would not force gun stores to close, citing a concern that doing so would push consumers to purchase guns on the black market.
In a release sent to NBC 7 Sheriff Gore said the following:
"While I am not asking retail firearms establishments to close, I am asking them to conduct business accordance with the County of San Diego Public Health Order. This means complying with social distancing and no gatherings that bring together ten or more people in a single room or single space at the same time."
"I am asking the citizens of San Diego County who wish to continue making firearms purchases, to do so in a legal and prescribed manner, transferring and obtaining weapons and ammunition through federal licenses dealers."