Salinas police call for more gun removal resources

There is a call for action to get guns out of the hands of criminals and those who are mentally ill in California.

On Thursday at a news conference, the Salinas Police Officers Association and Protect California urged the state to put more funds toward getting guns out of the hands of potentially dangerous people.

California’s Armed and Prohibited Persons System, or APPS, lists more than 23,000 people who legally purchased a firearm but are now deemed ineligible.

“We have 50 (agents) going around trying to find where these people are currently living, and own these guns,” the president of the Salinas Police Officers Association, Jim Knowlton, said. “It’s time to get them out of the hands of these people.”

Currently, only 50 agents in the entire state of California are assigned to contact the over 23,200 criminals and severely mentally ill identified in APPS to confiscate weapons they are prohibited from possessing.

According to The Washington Post, 25 percent of all fatal officer-involved shootings involve people in mental distress.

“We have a crisis here in the state of California,” Dustin Derollo, with Protect California, said. “We are not providing services and treatment for those who are mentally ill, and we’re asking police officers to be first responders for when that person is in crisis.”

The organizations say more resources have to be put forth to take away these guns.

“If the sheriff’s (office), if the local police agencies can allocate some officers to work with them for some period of time, especially providing their local knowledge that would be immensely helpful with getting more guns off the street.” DeRollo said.

KION spoke with a Seaside gun shop owner who said he thinks there’s a simple way he and other gun shops could help law enforcement agencies

According to CJ Fraley, the owner of CJ’s Gunsmithing, when he conducts a background check he doesn’t have access to the APPS list, he just sends in the information to the state.

“When the background check gets ran, it will check that list,” Fraley said.

When Fraley does a gun repair, he doesn’t even have to do a background check.

“I log in the name their last name, and maybe a couple digits of their social (security number) and see ‘hey you’re not allowed to own guns.’ Then I can take that gun and hand it over to law enforcement,” Fraley said.