A year ago the City of Sacramento passed two gun ordinances: One ordinance made it mandatory to report gun thefts within 48 hours; the other mandated logging and fingerprinting of anyone buying ammo in Sacramento city limits.Today the city is holding a ceremony at the police warehouse to–according to their press release–”trumpet the success” of the program.

Sacramento city councilman Kevin McCarty sponsored both “bills,” so it’s likely he will be playing lead trumpet this morning at the ceremony. I picture McCarty and other local luminaries standing at a podium next to cache of confiscated weapons, waxing philosophical about law enforcement and the city’s commitment to reducing the kind of violent crime that took the life of a pregnant woman in McCarty’s own neighborhood last year.

This is a touchy subject with many people. Conservatives believe the ammo ordinance is a complete invasion of privacy AND–in some opinions–unconstitutional. Gun control proponents think it is a powerful weapon in the war on crime. Indeed the fingerprinting/identification process has identified felons who should not have guns in the first place–let alone buying ammo for them. It is being reported tha the ammo ordinance has taken 56 guns off the street. Look at the image. These aren’t regular guns; some of them are friggin’ battlefield weapons.

But would this ordinance even be necessary if public safety was truly the city’s number one priority? I think we can all agree that Heather Fargo spends the majority of her time on environmental issues and working with the downtown partnership. There aren’t enough hours in the day to do all she does with the environment and partnership and still make crime a priority. After all, she didn’t even know there was a crime problem until her mayoral opponent told her there was.

I believe the city is partly to blame (specifically the mayor, council, and city leadership) for Sacramento’s second-to-only-Oakland state high violent crime rate. It’s not like we have a different brand of criminal here than, say, Modesto or Bakersfield. Crime control is a CHOICE. Some cities make it their number one priority, others don’t. Some cities, like Sacramento, have leaders who are more concerned with the “green print” than they are the “teen print.” The result is higher crime. I really believe it is that simple.

Recently we have seen the crime rate falling in Sacramento. This is because Sacramento is beginning to focus on it. The ammo ordinance is not the sole reason the crime rate has fallen, and who’s to say it has ANY impact in the crime rate at all? Sure, we all want to be protected, and obvously the ordinance has taken some big ol’ guns off our streets, but at what cost? Compromising our privacy? How many other HONEST people purchased ammo and unfairly had to smudge their fingerprint into the log book?

Ben Franklin once said, “The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve either.”  I wonder if Kevin McCarty ever heard that one.

Am I saying the ammo ordinance is wrong and should be removed? No. I just wonder where we draw the line. Privacy is every bit as important as public safety.

I think it behooves us to weigh in on these issues and follow national trends to ensure we are always strking the right balance. And most importantly, I think we need to DEMAND our elected leaders stop devoting the majority of their taxpayer-funded time to greening the city. I believe both Heather Fargo and Ray Tretheway have abused their political positions to further their environmental agendas at the expense of public safety, and that my friends is the only ammo WE need to get both of them out of office as soon as possible.

A view from the street:

From Gangstarr’s song “Tons o’ guns”

Note: Gangstarr was a popular rap group in the 90’s who rapped about issues facing kids in the inner city. They did not promote violence, nor were they misogynists who degraded females. This song was a commentary on guns in the streets …

tons o’ guns everybody’s getting strapped (buying a gun to protect themselves)
tons o’ guns got to watch the way you act
tons o’ guns real easy to get
tons o’ guns bringing nothing but death
tons o’ guns are in the streets nowadays
it’s big money and you know crime pays
check your nearest overpopulated ghetto
they greet you with a pistol not trying to say hello
mad kids packed ‘cos the neighbourhood’s like that
want some s*it that’s fat catch a victim do a stick
kids pulling triggers, n*ggaz killing n*ggaz
five-o they sit and wait and tally death-toll figures
it’s crazy there ain’t no time to really chill
jealous people always want to act ill
22’s 25’s 44’s 45’s
mack elevens ak’s taking mad lives
what the heck you gonna do in a situation
it’s like you need to have steel just to feel relaxation
tons o’ guns

tons o’ guns you got we got they got
the state of affairs yo it’s like mad chaos
i know a kid who just passed the other day
they shot him sixteen times so there he lay
you can pray for this s*it to like cease
but until then a n*gga’s going to pack a piece
and yo the devil’s got assasination squads
want to kill n*ggaz ‘cos they’re scared of god
they got camps where they train they learn to take aim
at a n*gga like a piece of game
and i’m not seeing that, them days are gone
‘cos now we got [chromes] to put them where they belong
so me a rude boy from and in a brooklyn
fuck the bulls*t pain and suffering
i’m coming off with a foolproof plan
as if each every lyric was worth a hundred grand
i stand in the face of hatred
letting off mad shots making devils run naked
tons o’ guns

tons o’ guns everybody’s getting strapped
tons o’ guns got to watch the way you act
tons o’ guns real easy to get
tons o’ guns bringing nothing but death
tons o’ guns but i don’t glorify
‘cos more guns will come and much more will die
why, yo i don’t know black
some people are just living like that
they like to feel the chrome in their hands
the s*t makes them feel like little big man
twelve years old catching wreck
‘cos there ain’t no supervision putting kids in check
people get wounded, others they perish
and what about the mother and the child she cherish
the city is wild up steps the wild child
tension anger living in danger
what are we going to do in a situation
it’s like you need to have steel just to feel relaxation
tons o’ guns

Update 5:28pm: At the ceremony today, McCarty and city Attorney Teichert said they believe the ammo program is a “success” and has “made our neighborhoods safer.” Oh? And how can they prove that? They can’t. They are purely speculating. They have no way of knowing if these weapons would have even been used in the commission of a crime. But it’s election season. And we know that means.