Letter to the Editor:
At the last Burbank City Council Meeting a new ordinance was reportedly passed which, among other things, establishes so-called “buffer zones” between any newly approved gun stores and what are deemed to be “sensitive locations”.
On March 11, 2024 I attended and reported in myBurbank a public meeting at the Burbank Community Services Bldg. of the Burbank Community Development staff, which was held to report on the July 26, 2022 Burbank City Council directive to its staff to evaluate new regulations for its 14 licensed firearm dealers. The number of gun dealers in Burbank is currently 14 per 100,000 residents, whereas in the City of Los Angeles it is .08 per 100,000.
My first surprise at the March 11 meeting was hearing the Burbank City Council staff members announce that there were no plans to cap the number of gun dealer licenses to the existing 14 but only to establish distances new dealers would have to be, 500 to 1,000 feet, from other gun stores and “sensitive” locations, such as schools, libraries and other public buildings and parks.
Local gun store owners and their employees flooded the March 11th meeting to oppose any new gun ordinances whatsoever. These merchants of mayhem claimed they were “legitimate business people” who accept no responsibility for the enormous number of gun deaths in the Los Angeles area where their wares have flooded communities with dangerous weapons.
Since, according to the Gun Zone Website online, “a bullet from an AR-15 assault rifle can travel up to 3,800 yards”, which means it can strike you within a 2-mile radius. So then, what safety does the City Council offer us with up to 1,000 feet from a gun store to a school playground?
Some of the gun store advocates at the March 11th meeting even recommended that the City of Burbank institute gun handling and shooting classes in its public schools, which of course would help create new customers for their shops. Burbank, apparently, is merely giving us cosmetic solutions to a deadly epidemic of gun violence, more like applying makeup to open cancer sores.
Doug Weiskopf
Burbank
Editors Note: Doug Weiskopf is an independent contractor with myBurbank
