Dear Mayor Gracilli and City Council Members of San Carlos, I am a resident of Menlo Park with three young children. Though San Carlos is not my community, I consider the Peninsula one community. It's come to my attention that Turner's Outdoorsman, a gun store that sells ammunition, guns and semi-automatic weapons is coming to San Carlos. That San Carlos has not put a moratorium on gun stores is deeply disturbing. Nearly 500 people were shot in Las Vegas this month. Gun deaths are up 12 percent in 2017. As of August 29, 2017 there were been over 10,000 gun deaths in the US. This year alone there have been 51,000 gun violence incidents. http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/ > If you care about protecting the citizens of our collective community, you cannot in good conscience allow a second gun shop in San Carlos. Research shows that with more guns comes more gun violence. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/11/14/more-guns-more-crime-new-research-debunks-a-central-thesis-of-the-gun-rights-movement/?utm_term=.d00591631233 > It may also interest you to know that in the twenty years since Australia enacted gun reform, there has not been a single mass shooting. We may not be able to change the laws nationwide, but we can protect our community and the children who live in them from wanton violence and access to weaponry that exceeds anyone's definition of sport. Take a page out of San Francisco's book and instead consider a total ban on the manufacture, sale, transfer or distribution of firearms or ammunition and the possession of a handgun. Sincerely, Jessica Taylor Menlo Park Received on Mon Oct 30 2017 - 20:33:28 PDT
