Up in arms: County looks at revising gun shop zoning in unincorporated areas

Santa Barbara County has temporarily blocked new gun shops — and expansions of existing ones — from obtaining county planning permits in unincorporated areas, a move that took effect Sept. 1 following a 4-1 vote by the Board of Supervisors. The urgent moratorium gives supervisors time to rewrite retail zoning rules that currently treat firearms retailers much like any other storefront, and a proposed ordinance establishing a 1,000-foot buffer between gun shops and sensitive sites such as schools and places of worship is scheduled to return to the board for discussion on Sept. 22.

The action won't directly regulate stores inside city limits — including Get R Gun on South Broadway in Santa Maria, which sits directly across the street from Santa Maria High School. But the debate resonates in a city where the question of how close is too close is playing out in plain view, with students crossing busy South Broadway past the storefront every school day.

What the county did, and why

The push, spearheaded by 2nd District Supervisor Laura Capps and 3rd District Supervisor Joan Hartmann, followed public outcry in Goleta, where the city granted Goodland Guns a permit to operate next to the Here We Grow Early Learning Center, as the Santa Maria Sun reported. The shop held its official grand opening during the first week of September.

"The situation raised an important question for the county: Are our own land use regulations adequate to protect the sensitive uses in the unincorporated areas of the county?" Chris Henson, Capps' chief of staff, said at the Sept. 1 meeting. "When we looked, we found that firearm sales are generally treated as ordinary retail."

Eleanor Gartner, Capps' deputy chief of staff, said the Goleta controversy "prompted us to closely examine the county's own zoning requirements and make sure similar gaps do not exist in unincorporated areas of the county."

County staff told supervisors the proposed 1,000-foot buffer is consistent with gun shop zoning protocols already adopted by other California jurisdictions, including Los Angeles County.

'Wendy's or a gun store? It's pretty much the same'

Under current county zoning, gun retailers face essentially the same permitting path as a fast-food restaurant — a gap 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino, whose district includes Santa Maria, highlighted with a shrug at the meeting: "So, Wendy's or a gun store? It's pretty much [the same]."

Lavagnino voted for both the moratorium and the directive to draft the buffer ordinance, framing it as a siting issue rather than a restriction on gun sales.

"I think if we do this right, there's a lot of good here," Lavagnino said. "This just makes sense. It's not a ban on anything. It is a 'let's put it in the right spot.' It's just common sense."

Lavagnino identified himself as a Get R Gun customer — he said he bought his gun there — but called the store's placement across from Santa Maria High School unfortunate. "It's not where you want your kids to be walking across the street, or looking at that from their school," he said.

A sole dissent

4th District Supervisor Bob Nelson cast the lone dissenting vote, arguing the county's response was aimed at a problem that doesn't exist locally.

"You can have good people take a different position on the same issue," Nelson said. "We have a lot of people in our county who see a gun store and think negatively. I represent a lot of people who see a gun store and think positively."

Nelson said he would have no problem with his own children attending a preschool next to a gun store, adding that in a mass shooting scenario, "there would be a large contingency next door... of somebody who was lawfully trained and knows how to use guns appropriately to potentially protect my children."

Of the 15 people who spoke during public comment at the hearing, only one — county resident Thomas Becker — argued against revising the zoning rules. The rest, including local parents and advocacy group representatives, supported the buffer and moratorium.

Santa Maria shop pushes back

At Get R Gun, manager Luis Catalan Valdez said he sees more red flags in the county's new policy than in the controversy that prompted it. Recalling the Goodland Guns headlines, Valdez said, "We didn't see a problem with Goodland Guns. With the [city] approvals and everything, who are we to say no?"

Though he wasn't at the Sept. 1 hearing, Valdez said his argument would have focused on school security rather than gun shop restrictions: "If the issue with gun violence comes down to protecting children, then we should harden school security instead. I'd rather see efforts go toward school security than gun control."

What comes next

Because the moratorium and proposed ordinance apply only to unincorporated county areas, gun retailers within Santa Maria, Goleta, and other incorporated cities remain governed by their own municipal rules. The practical effect for most Santa Maria residents will be indirect — shaping where new shops can open in county pockets around the city, such as Orcutt-adjacent unincorporated neighborhoods.

When the ordinance returns Sept. 22, supervisors are expected to weigh what specific standards new gun retailers should meet — including whether to require a discretionary public review process and additional safety or security standards that current retail zoning doesn't mandate.

The board's majority, for now, has settled on the direction: not fewer gun stores, but different addresses for them.