Nestled off the Redwood Shores just up Highway 101 from Menlo Park lies the city of San Carlos, California. It is in places like San Carlos where the Second Amendment is taking a hit, and law-abiding citizens are the victims. Just before Thanksgiving, the City Council voted to 4 – 1 to stop a store from opening.
Of course, it wasn’t just any store. It is Turner’s Outdoorsman, and you can bet dollars to donuts they sell firearms and rounds to go with. And that, my friends, is Turner’s crime. Thus, the $125,000 Turner spent in developing 1100 Industrial Road remains empty and may stay that way for some time. So, it seems that conservatives and libertarians in the area have a real fight on their hands. It is a fight for their ever rapidly eroding Second Amendment rights, and it’s not likely to go away anytime soon.
The San Carlos City Council doesn’t label their recent move as the removal of rights. They call it a “moratorium” – a kinder, gentler way of saying no new retail outlets that sell ammo or guns will be permitted in their gracious city. And what, pray tell, began this friendly stay of zoning laws in San Carlos? Why it was the violence in Las Vegas and Texas.
Yes, in Texas where an armed citizen took down a shooter. Sure as shootin’ it was a good guy with a gun. Certainly, keeping a retail outlet from selling firearms will protect the fine citizens there. Perhaps they seek to replicate the statistics in the United Kingdom.
The U.K. is largely seen as the place with the strictest gun control laws. It’s often referred to as “the gold standard.” In Great Britain, it is nearly impossible to obtain a handgun. So, how’s that working for them, the people of San Carlos might want to ask?
As you may have guessed — not very well. It seems that firearm crimes in “England and Wales were up 27-percent for the year ending in June 2017,” according to the Office for National Statistics. It sounds like the criminals in the U.K. aren’t paying any attention to the gun laws.
Imagine that.
But a frightened – shall we say ignorant – populace with a leftist narrative never let facts get in their way. San Carlos Councilman Mark Olbert said he was inundated with letters, calls and more from his constituency about Turner’s opening in his town. Unsurprisingly Olbert was a “yes” vote in favor of the moratorium.
The lone man standing in San Carlos turned out to be Councilman Matt Grocott who told The Mercury News:
“It’s not fair for this business to have gotten as far along as they did with their application and because a priest from a church finds out about it and then pretty soon we have a firestorm,” Grocott said, referring to the Rev. Alan Gates, who has helped lead the charge against the gun dealer.”
Anyone who has ever had a brush with zoning laws in a city knows what a sticky wicket it can be to get a proper permit. As it stands now the San Carlos City Council’s moratorium on Turner’s Outdoorsman is set to expire just before Christmas. But they could also kick the can down the road for up to two years by continuing to extend their moratorium.
This means it isn’t likely a Colt .45 will be sitting under the tree in many San Carlos homes on Christmas morning. And that may be just as the citizens there want it. But let’s hope the outlaws don’t get wind of the City Council’s move – otherwise, they may head on down the road a piece to greener pastures like San Carlos. After all, criminals with handguns won’t get much in the way of push-back there.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that an unarmed populace is ripe for criminal activity. The outlaws know this, the statistics show this, but it seems to be news to the brave City Councilors in San Carlos. No, they are betting that keeping the doors of one store shut will keep them safe.
I wouldn’t take that bet and neither should the good citizens of San Carlos.
