There’s a critically important local race on the ballot this November — the most important in the region in terms of gun safety.
For the past four years, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors has had a 3-2 majority for common-sense gun regulation. The board majority has stood strong against the powerful gun lobby and listened instead to the real-life concerns of their constituents. It’s one reason San Diego is among the safest metropolitan areas in the nation.
Unfortunately, that could change this fall.
The outcome of one key race this November will determine how safe you and your loved ones are from random acts of gun violence.
The incumbent is Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, who has championed common-sense gun safety laws and actions throughout her time in office. Her challenger is Kevin Faulconer, who is supported by the same hard-core gun fanatics that tried to defeat those laws.
Lawson-Remer’s credentials as a fighter for safe neighborhoods are without question:
- She advocated for the county’s important safe firearm storage law, which keeps children safe, protects against the use of guns in suicides, and protects against theft.
- She helped to pass the county’s law against untraceable ghost-guns and parts, and prohibiting 3D printing of guns or parts.
- She supported the county’s lawsuit against a company whose ghost-gun machine allows people to build unregistered firearms. Giffords Law Center’s pro bono representation of the county keeps legal costs in check while fighting to keep us safe.
- She hosted a summit to educate the community on local leaders’ actions to reduce gun-related suicides, homicides, and crime.
Lawson-Remer was also the driving force behind the county’s thoughtful Gun Violence Reduction Plan, the result of extensive study and public hearings. It promotes gun safety training, suicide prevention education, safe storage of firearms, and community-based intervention programs focused on high-risk populations like potential gang members.
Who could oppose that? Well, the opposition was led by Faulconer’s cheering section, the San Diego County Gun Owners. Two SDCGO-supported supervisors voted against the plan when it first came for a vote in 2023. If he wins, Faulconer would become the third vote SDCGO needs to overturn the plan.
Faulconer, a career politician, has a history of siding with the gun lobby. When he was mayor of San Diego, he opposed the city’s Safe Storage of Firearms Ordinance, a law designed to keep children and criminals from having access to unlocked firearms. Luckily the City Council overwhelmingly supported the ordinance, so it became law without his signature.
After only one term in office, Lawson-Remer was named a Gun Violence Prevention Champion by San Diegans for Gun Violence Prevention, which carefully screens candidates to determine who has your safety at heart. Faulconer instead won the endorsement of the San Diego County Gun Owners, so they clearly liked what they saw.
SDCGO isn’t shy about opposing reasonable gun laws. It opposed the county’s safe storage and ghost gun laws. It opposes the state assault weapons ban, firearm waiting periods, bans on the open carry of firearms in sensitive areas (like schools and playgrounds), and the ban on the high-capacity magazines favored by mass shooters.
Finally, where gun-safety groups want to keep guns as far away as possible from schools and school children, the Gun Owners host an annual “Gun Prom,” an event whose title is a constant reminder of their insensitivity to the hundreds of victims of school shootings in America.
When you vote in local elections this fall, remember there is no more important vote you can cast than for Terra Lawson-Remer and against Kevin Faulconer. Vote like your life depends on it. It very well could.
Therese Hymer is president of San Diegans for Gun Violence Prevention, a volunteer coalition of citizens and community organizations dedicated to ending gun violence in America.
