The Antioch City Council on Tuesday will likely formalize a new ordinance requiring gun owners to store their firearms in a locked container or disable them with an appropriate safety device in their home.
Tuesday's second reading of the ordinance, which was introduced at the Jan. 11 meeting, is on the council's consent calendar, meaning its approval is considered a formality.
California already has a law making it illegal to store a loaded firearm in a home, or with the owner's area of control, and do so when the owner knows a child could have access to the gun without the parent's permission. It's also illegal in California to store a loaded gun in a home, or within the owner's area of control, when the owner knows a person who is legally prohibited from possessing a firearm could access it.
Antioch's ordinance would specifically require firearms be locked up or disabled. The ordinance wouldn't apply when the firearm is legally carried or otherwise in their control.
A staff report for Tuesday's meeting says a 2017 Pew Research Center study found 42 percent of adults live in a gun-owning household. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in 2019, there were 39,707 firearm-related deaths in the United States. In 2019, firearms were used in 23.941 suicides in the Unted States.
"However, applying trigger locks or using lockboxes to store firearms in the home can reduce firearm related violence and accidents," the report says.
The Antioch City Council meets at 7 p.m. in the council chambers, at 200 H Street in Antioch. The meeting will be live streamed at www.antiochca.gov.
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