Permits to Shoot Guns Are Proposed

The Oxnard City Council will consider an ordinance today that will allow the city manager to issue permits allowing people to discharge firearms within the city under special circumstances.

Under the new rule, the city manager would have the discretion, on a case-by-case basis, to allow individuals to shoot firearms.

The revision of the policy comes amid a controversy over the seasonal shooting of coots, a migratory bird, at the city-owned River Ridge Golf Course.

The coots cause between $15,000 and $25,000 in damages to the golf course, said City Atty. Gary Gillig.

After trying several methods to shoo away the birds, the city got a permit from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Gillig said. “We can shoot up to 400 birds a year,” he said.

But Oxnard residents Lee Casey and her daughter, Lorna, filed a lawsuit against the city last November to halt the “coot shoots.”

“We are in the discovery phase,” said Craig Ploss, the Ventura attorney representing the Caseys. Ploss said he had not heard about the proposed ordinance change.

Gillig said the policy change is part of a routine revision of the city code, but that it would underscore the city manager’s authority on the issue.

“The shootings were clearly permitted. If I had been worried about that, I would have done this six months ago,” he said. “This will make it clear the city manager has the authority to allow the shootings.”

Gillig said the city hopes an agreement can be reached on the lawsuit.