Pleasant Hill City Council Will Hold Workshop On Home Gun Sales

After a number of residents spoke out against a proposed Internet gun sale business from a private residence, the Pleasant Hill City Council agreed to hold a workshop about home-based gun sale businesses.

Several members of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence spoke at the council meeting Monday, urging the city to require public notice and public hearings before permitting the sale of guns from private residences.

In October, the city issued a business permit for Rico Tedjakusuma to sell guns from his home on Scottdale Road. It is an Internet-only business, and Tedjakusuma would not be allowed to sell guns directly to visitors, but through mail only. Still, under the city’s rules, the permit for such a business did not require a public hearing.

Many residents said Monday that such a business could pose a threat to the safety and security of a residential neighborhood, and that such businesses should be noticed and public hearings held before permits are issued.

“It astonished me that there was no notification to the public for someone about to sell guns and ammunition out of their home,” said Patricia Derickson. “There’s not enough oversight. Pleasant Hill could become the gun dealer capital of Contra Costa County.”

Karen Arnson of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said home gun sales “creates a safety risk in neighborhoods. This is a zoning issue, not a Second Amendment issue.”

She urged the council to adopt an ordinance banning home gun sales.

But Alany Helmantober, a gun lobbyist from Concord, said the proposed business was simply a home office, and not a threat to the neighborhood.

“Guns are not delivered to the home,” she said. “I don’t see a firearms business being an issue for the community at large. We’re talking about paperwork shuffling, not firearms storage.”

A public workshop “is an opportunity to get information from residents and hear from both sides of this issue,” said vice mayor Michael Harris.

He had originally proposed a workshop on gun sales in general, but councilwoman Terri Williamson urged the council to focus on home gun sales only.

“Otherwise, you could wind up boiling the baby with the bathwater,” she said.