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Recommendation to request City Manager to report back to the City Council within 30 days on the Police Department's current efforts to address prohibited possessors of firearms in Long Beach, and the feasibility and cost of utilizing one-time revenues for the Police Department to target the illegal gun possession by these potentially dangerous individuals.
DISCUSSION
According to the California Department of Justice, nearly 20,000 Californians possess firearms that are prohibited from having them due to criminal convictions, mental illness or being the subject of domestic violence restraining orders. These individuals are in possession of approximately 39,000 guns, including about 1,670 assault weapons.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) maintains the Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS), an on-line database that cross-references persons who possess a gun and who, subsequent to possession of that gun, are legally prohibited from possessing a gun. According to the DOJ, about half of the persons on the APPS list are prohibitied due to criminal history, about 30% are due to mental health status, and about 20% are due to active restraining orders.
Law enforcement agencies have access to APPS and are able to identify persons who are prohibited from possessing a gun, and they have the legal authority to confiscate those guns.
According to press reports, the City of Los Angeles has a list of 3,000 prohibited possessors, which they target with a 20-officer gun unit.
The State of California has allocated an additional $24 million this year in SB 140 (Leno) to the Department of Justice to target prohibited possessors. However, this money is going to increase enforcement operations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Fresno and Riverside.
The public safety of Long Beach will benefit from a focused effort to remove firearms from the possession of potentially dangerous individuals with a criminal or mental illness history.
FISCAL IMPACT
This fiscal impact is...
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