Proposed replica-gun law lambasted by activists at Santa Rosa council meeting

A proposal to make it against the law for children to display replica firearms in public in Santa Rosa without an adult present came under sharp criticism from Andy Lopez activists Tuesday who said it sent the wrong message to the community.

Former Santa Rosa Police Chief Tom Schwedhelm, elected to the City Council in the fall, said he thought there was a “disconnect” between the fact that replica firearms cannot be sold to anyone under age 18 in the state, yet there was no prohibition against a youth possessing one in public.

“If you’re going to be in public with a replica firearm, you should be in the company of a responsible adult or a parent,” Schwedhelm said. “For me, it’s not about enforcement, it’s about education.”

While he didn’t directly reference the Lopez shooting, Schwedhelm made it clear he thought requiring adults to be present would reduce the chances of a similar tragedy happening again.

But activists and some fellow council members were quick to attack his idea as misguided, unnecessary and implicitly placing responsibility on Lopez or his family for his death. The 13-year-old was killed in October of 2013 just outside city limits by a sheriff’s deputy who said he mistook the airsoft BB gun Lopez carried for an AK-47, which it was designed to resemble.

“I don’t believe for a minute you’re interested in the safety of our children,” said Gail Simons, a member of Justice for Andy Lopez. “I think that this is a ruse and it’s a ploy. It is a red herring to take focus off of what is the real problem.”

The real problem, she said, is the 70 people who have died in police custody in the past 15 years in the county. The victims in such cases aren’t the problem, rather the law enforcement officers who used deadly force, she added.

The criticism underscored the deep divisions that remain over who’s to blame for Lopez’s death the strained relations between the community and law enforcement.

“There isn’t a person in this room who doesn’t know this is about Andy Lopez, and about trying to turn the victim into the criminal, added Ellen Zebrowski, a member of the The Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County.

She said if another council member had suggested the idea, it “might only seem misguided,” but for the former chief of police to propose it was “very disturbing.” She called it a “bogus issue” and urged the council to “waste no further time on this diversion.”

Local activists were similarly hostile last year toward a toy gun buy-back program proposed by Sonoma County officials to the Community and Local Law Enforcement Task Force. Many believed it diverted attention from more substantive issues such as citizen oversight of law enforcement.

But a majority of the council members agreed with Schwedhelm that the idea should at least be explored. The council voted 4-2 to ask city staff to investigate the issue and return with costs, options and possible pitfalls, such as whether it would conflict with state or federal laws.

Mayor John Sawyer said while some might consider it “folly,” he views it very differently.

“For me, this is about reducing chances of a tragedy in the future,” he said.

Ernesto Olivares, a retired police officer who worked with Schwedhelm for years, also supported the idea. “It’s about saving lives,” Olivares said.

It’s not just about confrontations between police and juveniles with toy guns, he said. Children walking around with such lifelike replicas could easily be in danger from private citizens who mistake the toys for the real thing, he said.

“It’s a community issue that we need to look at,” he said. “We have an opportunity to start something here.”

Council members Julie Combs and Gary Wysocky voted against pursuing the issue. Combs called the move unnecessary given that the State Legislature had recently passed the Imitation Fire Safety Art, which goes into effect in 2016.

Co-authored by state Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, the new law bans replica firearms like the one Lopez was carrying. It will require BB, pellet and airsoft guns to be brightly colored or to feature fluorescent strips prominently on parts of the gun to make them easily distinguishable from the real thing.

“I think we’re trying to solve a problem that we will not have after 2016,” Combs said.

Combs also said she found it odd that Schwedhelm would raise such an issue now, having said nothing about it during the two-day goal setting aimed at setting council and staff priorities for the coming two years. Wysocky also noted that the city has a host of other priorities and limited staff to accomplish them.

But the strong disagreements and emotions surrounding the issue told Councilwoman Erin Carlstrom that the community still needs to have a “robust conversation” about the role of weapons and the relationship between the police and the public.

“I will never sit behind this dais and vote against something that furthers that conversation,” she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @srcitybeat.