16 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY SEPTEMBER 5-11, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com OUT GUNNED In the United States, where guns outnumber people, about 132 people die every day from a firearm-related incident, according to the Centers for Disease Control. While the Second Amendment all but guarantees people’s rights to possess firearms, how to regulate guns remains a controversial, politicized and complex matter, while balancing that constitutional right with people’s right to safety. California has recently implemented a variety of new gun-related legislation meant to save lives. In this collection of stories, we take a look at what some of these laws do and how they are being used (or not) locally, and their limitations. Then there is the growing problem of so-called ghost guns, unserialized firearms that are built and sold specifically to evade regulations. These stories provide an examination of just some of the specific and evolving challenges when it comes to regulating guns. -Sara Rubin, editor • Lay down your arms 16 • Black market weapons 18 • Latest gun laws 20 In March 2023, CSU Monterey Bay Police officers responded to a Marina home on a report of a man acting erratically. The 38-year-old who resided at the house was well known to police, who had responded to the home at least seven times over the past four years, one time arresting him for firearms violations. According to court records, the man, who had three firearms registered to him, said he wanted to pull a gun out on the officers, with the hopes that they would shoot and kill him. He was taken into custody without incident. A few weeks later, CSUMB Police filed for a gun violence restraining order, known as a “red flag law,” against the man. A GVRO, if approved by a judge, requires an individual to turn in their firearms and prevents them from owning a gun for up to five years. “It is my opinion that a Gun Violence Restraining Order is necessary to prevent personal injury to [him] and/or others because less restrictive alternatives are ineffective, inadequate and/or inappropriate for the circumstances at issue in this matter,” Sgt. Stacie Russo wrote in the filing. A Monterey County Superior Court judge agreed, and in April 2023 ordered the man to surrender his weapons and be prohibited from owning guns for three years. In mid-2022, a Salinas man posted on Instagram photos of multiple AR-15-style rifles, a local hospital and an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, the site of a 2022 mass shooting, with a post that ended with: “You will die like everyone else. One day or the next.” The court agreed with a request from Salinas Police, and signed an order banning him from possessing weapons for three years. However, most of the time, these cases are dropped before they ever get to a judge, for various reasons—a suspect might agree to a mental health evaluation, or turn in their guns voluntarily, for example. Other times, there just isn’t enough evidence to convince a judge that the person is inherently dangerous. In 2022, a King City man, who claimed that, while he didn’t own a gun, he had access to them, threatened to shoot two people and make police officers kill him, according to court records. After being placed on a mental health hold, he later reportedly said he was drunk when making those statements. Monterey Police Department dropped its request for a restraining order. In 2022, the Salinas Police Department filed for a GVRO against a Salinas man arrested for domestic abuse. Court records state the man turned in one of his guns willingly, but he claimed that the other two were stolen sometime over the past two years, which he never reported. The city dropped its request. It’s been nearly a decade since the red flag law went into effect, hailed as a way to possibly stem the rising tide of mass shootings. But it’s not being utilized to the full extent that lawmakers had hoped for. That is especially true in Monterey County. • • • In 2014, a 22-year-old man killed six people and injured 14 others by using semi-automatic pistols, knives and his car in Isla Vista. Prior to the rampage, he posted videos online vowing to kill people. His family reportedly alerted police a month earlier, but as outlined in a 2015 report by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, deputies had no legal right to search his apartment, where he kept his stockpile of weapons, nor did they believe he was a danger to himself or others. In response to the killings, State Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, authored Assembly Bill 1014, known as the “red flag law.” Once signed by Gov. Jerry Brown later in 2014 and taking effect in 2016, the law authorized gun violence restraining orders. A GVRO prohibits a person from buying or possessing a gun, ammunition or magazines. Only law enforcement, the person’s immediate family members, employer, co-worker or teacher can request such an order from the court. Unlike other types of restraining orders that may require a person to stay away from specific individuals or places (in addition to requiring them to relinquish firearms), GVROs focus exclusively on removing RAISING A law that takes guns away from potentially dangerous people is picking up steam—but not in Monterey County. By Erik Chalhoub THE RED FLAG
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==