The San Diego County board of supervisors passed a proposal that would allow the county to seek out policy recommendations to pursue legal actions to hold firearm manufacturers accountable.
The proposal was approved by Board of Supervisors Chairman Nathan Fletcher, supervisor Tarra Lawson-Remer, and Vice-Chair Nora Vargas, while their colleagues Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond were opposed. The move follows recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, Buffalo, and elsewhere.
Fletcher and Lawson-Remer announced the proposal on Monday, in which Chief Administrative Officer Helen Robbins-Meyer will “consult with the Sheriff and other relevant departments, to work with other law enforcement agencies, to receive copies of their reports related to weapon seizure, and bring back recommendations to the Board of Supervisors for options to initiate litigation against gun manufacturers,” the policy reads.
Desmond said that while he's in favor of stemming the tide of gun violence, it's better to focus on mental health issues, which he called the root cause of mass gun killings. Anderson said he wouldn't support the proposal but also wanted to make sure that evidence collected by the county is useful.
Each year, more than 45,222 people in the U.S. die as a result of gun violence, and tens of thousands more suffer non-fatal gun injuries. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported firearms as the leading cause of death among children and teens.
“We want to use this policy to put pressure on manufacturers to be responsible corporate citizens,'' Fletcher said. "They shouldn't be allowed to rake in money and then sit idly by as people using their product perform mass shootings.''
Fletcher and Lawson-Remer wrote in the policy that "the urgency of this vote is underscored by the fact that the U.S. Supreme court is poised this summer to potentially weaken restrictions on concealed carry law, the implications of which would reverberate through the county."
