To comply with state law, Mission removes old ordinance that granted police power to seize weapons during emergencies

The city of Mission has taken steps to ensure compliance with state law after discovering it had an outdated ordinance on the books intended to allow police officers to confiscate firearms and weapons during a declared state of emergency.

Mission officials believe the ordinance would have been deemed unenforceable under state laws which explicitly protect individuals’ rights to keep legally held firearms. City officials said Mission never used the ordinance before it was taken off the books.

Before the council moved to strike it this week, the ordinance had given the mayor the authority to order a law enforcement officer or city employee to “confiscate any items, including alcoholic beverages, firearms, explosives, weapons and combustibles” in “the interest of public safety” during a state of disaster or emergency.

The council Wednesday voted 7-0 to delete “firearms” and “weapons” from that list of items as part of a string of orders city leaders could make in an emergency. The ordinance change was part of the council’s adoption of a wholesale updated emergency operations plan for the city.