The Goleta City Council adopted a 45-day prohibition on approving new firearm and ammunition retail stores in the city Tuesday.
The unanimous City Council vote made the urgency ordinance immediately effective. It needed a four-fifths vote to pass.
While the urgency ordinance is in place, city staff plan to research permanent regulations regarding firearm and ammunition retailers, including the city’s buffer zones and business license requirements.
Without the ordinance, the city could approve applications for new firearms and ammunition stores. Doing so could pose “a current and immediate threat to public health, safety and welfare,” according to the city staff report.
The urgency ordinance does not impact existing gun retailers, of which there are two operating in the city, including longtime business Goodland Guns, whose relocation next to a preschool and daycare center sparked widespread controversy.
Additionally, the existing shops would still be able to relocate under the ordinance following the usual process, according to Robert Nisbet, city manager.
There are no pending firearm retailers seeking city approval, Nisbet confirmed to Noozhawk.
The Goleta City Council can extend the urgency ordinance up to 10 months and 15 days, according to Isaac Rosen, city attorney.
“We do imagine we will be back before your council within those 45 days,” Nisbet said. “I don’t think we can do all this work in 45 days.”
For now, city staff will put together a timeline for research and come back to the City Council regarding permanent regulations.
“Maybe we will have a better estimation at that point,” Nisbet said.
Goodland Guns recently moved from Old Town Goleta to 7443 Hollister Ave., next to Here We Grow Early Learning Facility. The proximity to the daycare and preschool center triggered community backlash and city discussions regarding its own regulations for firearm and ammunition retailers.
Goleta city staff deemed the urgency ordinance “necessary” and called its current firearm and ammunition sale regulations “insufficient” in a city staff report ahead of Tuesday’s meeting.
Dan Ashton, owner of Goodland Guns, has been a strong advocate for his store’s lawful relocation since the community backlash erupted about a month ago.
“I don’t understand now why just because someone voiced their opinion on Nextdoor, now we have all these regulations changing,” he said Tuesday.
He said his previous location operated for over a decade next to the Goleta Community Center and early learning centers, including the Rainbow Preschool and Head Start in Old Town Goleta.
Ashton said California already has strong regulations on firearm dealers and told City Council members that Goleta has no responsibility to enact more regulations.
For Goleta, gun shops fall under general retail use with no specific standards, permitting requirements or location criteria, meaning gun shops could operate in four commercial zones.
Ashton distributed a map to City Council members Tuesday that he quickly made with artificial intelligence, showing how 600- and 100-foot buffers for gun shops from schools and other sites could look across Goleta.
“It’s pretty scary because you are taking 94% of the available commercial real estate away from firearm stores, “ he said.
His map does not consider industrial zones, he added.
Ashton said the buffers would force gun retailers into shopping centers in Goleta. But those are not locations gun shops can even pursue, he added, because of shopping center lease agreements that prohibit smoke shops and gun shops.
Other community members supported the 45-day ban on approving new gun retailers.
“Thank you for taking this seriously and putting a pause so that you can come up with a thoughtful plan on how to move forward,” resident Lindsey Vining said during public comment.
One public commenter, Ethan Woodill, accused the City Council of trying to make themselves look good ahead of the November election, which has two council seats on the ballot.
But councilmember Stuart Kasdin rejected the claims.
“It’s my district, and I am not running, and I think this is a pertinent and appropriate issue for us to be discussing, and it has nothing to do with any kind of election going on,” he said.
Kasdin also addressed Ashton’s buffer map, saying that city staff will have more time to conduct an analysis.
“We will do an evaluation that will give us a good estimate of available locations and where it makes sense,” he said.
Goleta’s move follows the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, which adopted a similar 45-day moratorium on approving new gun retailers in unincorporated county areas.
The county supervisors discussed a proposed ordinance that would establish a 1,000-foot buffer between gun retailers and public areas like schools and parks. However, there was some concern the buffer area would be too large, as Noozhawk previously reported.
Noozhawk intern Michael Spanjol contributed reporting to this story.
