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Committee backs resolution for Tree of Life victims, urges renewed push for gun‑law reforms
Summary
The committee adopted a resolution expressing support for the Tree of Life synagogue and urging common‑sense gun‑law changes; supervisors, a state senator and Jewish community leaders tied national mass‑shootings to local calls for better security and legislative action. The measure passed as a committee report after a clerical amendment.
The Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee unanimously moved a resolution Dec. 11 declaring support for the Tree of Life synagogue and the broader Jewish community after the Oct. 27, 2018 shooting in Pittsburgh and calling for renewed common‑sense gun‑law reforms. Supervisor Stephanie introduced the item and framed the measure as part of ongoing local and state efforts to prevent gun violence.
Supervisor Stephanie said the committee gathered to remember the dead and to press for action, describing local impacts on families and students and noting an interfaith vigil held the previous day. "We have to continue to call attention to the gun violence epidemic in our country," she said, urging both condolences and concrete policy changes. She announced a city gun‑buyback event scheduled for Dec. 15 from 8 a.m. to noon at 1038 Howard Street.
Senator Scott Wiener, who was invited to speak, described recent state measures and pledged cooperation with local officials, citing this year’s law raising the minimum age to purchase firearms and bans on bump stocks. The Jewish Community Relations Council’s executive director Abby Porth urged the city to increase security funding for religious institutions and cited FBI data that the Jewish community remains a leading target of bias‑motivated violence.
Clerk John Carroll introduced the measure as a committee report to be sent to the Board of Supervisors. During consideration, the committee corrected a clerical error in the draft, changing the reported number of injured victims from 9 to 6. The amendment and the motion to move the resolution forward were accepted without objection and taken as a committee report.
The measure contains no new local regulation; it is a formal expression of the committee’s support for victims and a request for renewed attention to gun‑safety policy. The committee did not adopt additional legislative language at this hearing. The resolution will appear on the Jan. 15, 2019 Board of Supervisors agenda as a committee report.
Speakers at the meeting included Supervisor Stephanie (sponsoring the resolution), Senator Scott Wiener, Abby Porth (executive director, Jewish Community Relations Council) and public commenters including Calvin Quick of Bay Area Student Activists, who urged pairing condolences with concrete policy commitments.
The committee took the measure without roll‑call vote and forwarded it to the full Board with a positive committee report. No specific ordinance or ordinance number was adopted at this hearing; the committee’s action was procedural and advisory pending Board consideration.
