Officials: Obama’s gun rules won’t affect Merced County

Local law enforcement officials say President Barack Obama’s plan to curb gun violence won’t make much of a difference in Merced County because California already imposes many of the measures the president proposed on Tuesday.

While surrounded by families affected by gun violence, Obama announced new executive actions aimed at reducing gun violence, including requiring anyone “in the business of selling firearms” to get a license to conduct background checks, increasing mental health treatment and reporting to background check systems and ordering dealers to report to law enforcement when guns are lost or stolen.

“We’re doing what we need to do,” said Merced police Capt. Bimley West. “What is being done on a national level right now – that’s nothing new to us in California. I’m happy and proud that we’ve already figured it out. Some of these other places are behind the times.”

California already requires universal background checks for every gun sale, including transactions at gun shows and private sales. And those restrictions have not appeared to hamper legal access to firearms. According to a report published last month by the San Francisco Chronicle, gun sales in the state more than doubled between 2010 and 2014. In the San Joaquin Valley, purchases increased between 163 and 224 percent in Merced, Kings, Tulare, Fresno and San Joaquin counties.

Mariposa County recorded the most sales by population in the state, the story said.

Sheriff Vern Warnke said gun sales in Merced County follow the laws. “The licensed gun dealers here are so particular that I have to provide them documentation, and I’m the sheriff,” Warnke said.

Studies in the last decade show that criminals are more likely to get guns directly from friends or other social connections than at the gun shows or flea markets that Obama’s plan targets. West said those instances highlight the importance of properly securing firearms.

Both Warnke and West said stricter gun rules will not help curb violence in Merced or the county. West attributed gun violence simply to “bad guys.”

In the last three years, Merced County has recorded 30 or more homicides each year. In 2015, at least 21 of the county’s 31 homicide victims died of a gunshot wound, according to coroner’s records and Sun-Star archives.

Criminals “don’t care about the rules in the state of California or the federal government,” West said. “Bad guys are still going to get weapons regardless of the rules they make.”

Desiree Parreira, an Atwtater woman whose 16-year-old daughter Samantha was fatally shot in 2013, said the laws need to target gangs and drugs – not law-abiding citizens carrying firearms. “I don’t think it’s going to help violence in Merced,” she said. “It’s making it harder for good people to protect themselves and easier for bad people to commit crimes.”

Sam Paredes, the executive director of Gun Owners of California, said the government is focusing on the wrong issue.“As long as (the government) continues to focus on gun control issues instead of people issues, we will continue to have mass murders and acts of terror.

“It’s almost silly. It’s not going to save a single life anywhere in the country.”

Both Warnke and West, who have been in law enforcement for more than three decades, agree with Obama’s plan to increase access to mental health care.

“We feel that more needs to be done to help those who are within our community, not just on the streets or those people who are transients,” West said. “Officers are encountering more people with mental health issues. It appears there’s not enough assistance there.”

Warnke agreed: “Mental health facilities are overburdened. They need to be expanded tenfold.”

This story was originally published January 5, 2016 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Officials: Obama’s gun rules won’t affect Merced County."