Oakland’s Legislation Committee unanimously passed Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan’s proposal for a resolution that would urge President Obama to require all federal employees, agents and law enforcement personnel to secure their firearms in unattended vehicles.

According to Michael Ubell of the Brady Campaign, “More than 250,000 guns are stolen in the United States every year. Theft from vehicles is a problem on the rise in Oakland. As we have, seen, vehicles of federal agents are not immune to this problem and guns stolen from federal agent’s vehicles have recently resulted in two deaths in Oakland and San Francisco.”

This past year, there were multiple people who were shot and killed by guns that were stolen from federal vehicles. One of the victims was peace muralist Antonio Ramos, who was shot and killed with a gun that had been stolen from a car rented by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent while parked in San Francisco.

Kaplan’s resolution is the newest addition to a package of proposals that have been put forth to strengthen gun safety to stop the spread of illegal guns.

In January, the City Council passed a new ordinance that would require all residents of Oakland to secure all firearms and ammunition in unattended vehicles.

“While these new Oakland laws are important, we also need all federal agents, located anywhere, to keep their guns secure, and make sure they are not unwittingly adding to the horror of gun violence in our communities,” said Kaplan.

In December, the Oakland City Council unanimously passed a proposal to support the 2016 California ballot initiative “Safety For All Act” by Governor Gavin Newsom. The ballot initiative would require background checks for all firearm and ammunition sales, reporting lost and stolen firearms and other gun safety measures.

The full City Council will hear the latest resolution on Tuesday, March 1.

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