Corinne S Kennedy

The Desert Sun

The Palm Springs City Council passed a contentious gun control ordinance Wednesday, adding three new provisions to the city firearms code and potentially drawing a lawsuit from the National Rifle Association.

These measures will take effect in 30 days:

Lost or stolen guns will have to be reported to the police within 48 hours of when they are discovered missing or when the owner “reasonably should have known” they were missing;

Guns and ammunition left in an unattended vehicle must be kept in a trunk or locked container;

At home, people will have to store firearms in a locked container or disable the triggers with a trigger lock when a gun is not in the owner’s immediate possession.

Violators could be fined up to $1,000 per offense.

The NRA previously threatened to sue the city if they passed the enhanced firearms regulations, warning the council to “tread lightly,” and referencing several recent lawsuits—some successful, some unsuccessful—that have been filed against California cities after they implemented gun control ordinances.

PREVIOUSLY: NRA warns Palm Springs not to pursue gun control

The group has also sent out an informational letter to its members living in cities pursuing mandatory reporting periods for lost or stolen guns. The letter contains advice on how to comply with the law and advises gun owners of their rights--including the right against unreasonable search and seizure--when a law enforcement officer questions them about their firearms.

Councilmember Chris Mills made a motion to have the item taken off the consent agenda for further discussion before the vote.

Mills and Councilmember Ginny Foat voted against the measure at the previous meeting and again expressed their discomfort with the ordinance Wednesday.

“It’s a law on the books, but there’s no way to enforce it,” Foat said.

She said that while she supports gun control, she cannot—on principle—vote for a law that opens the door to government intrusion into private homes.

Councilmember Geoff Kors, who has been the driving force behind the ordinance, said he believed the measures would help prevent accidental shootings, suicides and theft of firearms for use in crimes.

He added that other cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City, already have similar laws regarding how firearms should be stored at home. The San Francisco law--which is more restrictive than the newly-adopted Palm Springs ordinance--was challenged by the NRA. In 2014, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the city. The NRA appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which decided not to review the case .

Kors has stressed that these measures are about gun safety, not gun control, and that the NRA has not provided an example of a case when someone has been harmed because their gun was in a gun safe or disabled with a trigger lock.

“There’s a lot of talk about the right to bear arms,” he said. “As Rabbi Lazer so eloquently stated two weeks ago, ‘there is no right more important than life itself."

LAST MEETING: Council votes 3-2 to advance gun control ordinance

When the measure first came up in July, about a dozen people showed up at city hall to protest the draft ordinance and speak against it during public comment. When it came up again Sept. 7 for a first reading, supporters and opponents showed up, some with signs and matching T-shirts, to lend their voices to the debate.

Supporters and opponents again took to city hall Wednesday, informing the council members of their support for or opposition to the ordinance.

Attorney Roger Tansey said the measures are clearly lawful and also referenced Jackson vs. City and County of San Francisco.

“Our ordinance is different from San Francisco. It is less restrictive,” he said. “And that phrase ‘immediate possession,’ in the context of a firearm, has been very well defined by the law.”

Joy Brown Meredith, business owner and president of the Main Street Palm Springs Association, asked the council not to pass the law and make her family feel less safe in their own home. She said she would feel horrible if she ever shot someone.

“But if I had to shoot someone to save one of my kids, you’d better believe I’d shoot them dead,” she said to applause from the crowd.

Councilmember J.R. Roberts said the ordinance is a good jumping off point.

“Every ordinance that we pass isn’t necessarily perfect,” he said. “Say if we find that anything in this ordinance doesn’t work or is misguided, we can go back and fix it.”

Corinne Kennedy covers the west valley for The Desert Sun. She can be reached atCorinne.Kennedy@DesertSun.com, on Twitter at @CorinneSKennedy or at 760-778-4625.