Calabasas Announces Gun Safety Ordinance

CALABASAS, CA — The City of Calabasas is enacting an ordinance requiring residents to safely store firearms in their homes, the City announced Monday. The move makes Calabasas the first city in Los Angeles County to adopt a safe storage requirement that applies to all guns, not just handguns.

"In the wake of high-profile mass shootings and the ongoing risk to children," the City Council voted unanimously last week to support the measure and will take a final look at the new ordinance at its meeting on August 28, the press release said.

The ordinance requires any firearm stored in a home to be locked in a container or be disabled with a trigger lock approved by the California Department of Justice. The ordinance defines a firearm as "any revolver, rifle and shotgun" and a residence as "any home, condominium, room, accessory dwelling unit, motel, hotel, single-room occupancy, time-share, and recreational or other vehicle where human habitation occurs in the City of Calabasas," the press release said. The ordinance contains an exemption for peace officers and individuals who report a lost or stolen firearm to law enforcement.

"My fellow Councilmembers and I agree that as community leaders we cannot stand idly by as gun violence continues to threaten the safety of our residents as well as that of people throughout the nation and world," said Calabasas Mayor David J. Shapiro. "We are proud to be leaders in this effort, protecting the well-being of our residents and neighborhoods remains our top priority."

Violating the ordinance is punishable as a misdemeanor, the City said.