Summary
Professor John Donohue comments on proposed changes to Oakland’s gun control laws for The Contra Costa Times.
City officials want to strengthen Oakland’s gun laws after a series of high-profile killings in the Bay Area and California in recent months, proposing new requirements for storing firearms in homes and vehicles and banning high-capacity magazines.
Council members Dan Kalb and Anne Campbell Washington are offering legislation to ban possession of large-capacity gun magazines in the city, unless otherwise exempted, such as those issued to a police officer. They also want to introduce a Safe Storage Act, requiring residents to keep firearms in a locked container or accessible only with a trigger lock.
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Stanford law professor John Donohue, who has studied gun control laws’ effect on crime, said California’s proximity to gun-happy states like Arizona and Nevada would likely weaken Oakland’s efforts.
“It is tough to have a positive impact if you’re a narrow municipality entity in a much broader universe,” Donohue said.
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Donohue said California cities have the authority to enact stricter gun laws than the state and federal government — San Francisco and Sunnyvale have strengthened their laws in recent years — but he wasn’t sure how Kaplan’s car law might apply to federal agents.
But “anything that can be done to encourage gun owners to secure their weapons would be helpful,” he said.
“Some politicians say, let’s start the ball rolling, and if enough municipalities do it, we can help to get the state to take some similar action.”
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