On Monday, San Francisco launched a new gun safety program aimed at quickly and voluntarily removing firearms from households where a child custody dispute or other volatile circumstances may exist. The Pierce’s Pledge Gun Safety Storage Program will offer residents “a safe way to remove firearms from their homes by surrendering them at any of the city’s 10 district police stations, where firearms can be securely stored for up to one year at no cost,” according to a statement from Mayor Daniel Lurie’s office. The program was devised in cooperation with Pierce’s Pledge, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting children during custody disputes, and Supervisor Stephen Sherrill’s office.
At a Monday press conference at the San Francisco Police Department’s Northern District Station, Sherrill described the program as “a first-in-the-nation lifesaving program and partnership.”
Sherrill was joined at the press conference by Mayor Daniel Lurie and Lesley Hu, the founder of Pierce’s Pledge, as well as Assemblywoman Catherine Stefani, who, as Sherrill’s predecessor as District 2 supervisor, was the board’s point person on gun safety legislation; Sheriff Paul Miyamoto; and City Attorney David Chiu.
The storage program allows for residents who are concerned about the presence of a firearm in their home during a stressful period, such as a child custody fight, to bring the weapon to any district police station and be provided with a receipt. The SFPD will store the gun for up to 12 months, after which the resident can retrieve it or transfer it to a licensed gun dealer for sale, provided they have lawful ownership of the weapon. There is no charge for the service.
“Out of unimaginable loss, Lesley turned grief into action, creating a movement to protect other families from the same pain … through this partnership with the San Francisco Police Department, Pierce’s pledge is taking another step forward by launching a safe gun storage program for families in crisis,” Sherrill told reporters. “This gives families a safe and practical option when circumstances change, and it is no longer safe to keep a gun at home. It is a simple idea. A simple idea with profound impact.”
“This gives families a safe and practical option when circumstances change, and it is no longer safe to keep a gun at home. It is a simple idea. A simple idea with profound impact.”
— Supervisor Stephen Sherrill
Hu founded Pierce’s Pledge after her son was killed in 2021 by her ex-husband in a murder-suicide during a custody dispute over vaccination. The group’s mission is to encourage families to store guns outside the home in times of internal conflicts, such as over child custody.
“On Jan. 13, 2021, I went to pick Pierce up at school, but he wasn’t there. After frantically searching for him, I walked into this very station through these very doors right here. It was here that I would receive the news that broke my soul into a million pieces,” Hu told reporters at the conference. “Unfathomably, what happened to Pierce happens every six days in America. To support our mission, our team began looking for options for people who wanted to store guns outside of their home. We ended up calling every gun store in America and created the first and only national off-site gun storage map, listing approximately 1,800 locations that offer off-site storage services. But in San Francisco, because there are no gun stores, there are no gun storage locations. Today, that changes.”
“Our administration’s top priority is public safety — especially the safety of San Francisco’s children and families. This program represents a simple idea with a powerful goal: To save lives by helping families remove firearms from the home during volatile circumstances,” Mayor Lurie said in a statement accompanying the presser. “Safe gun storage saves lives, whether it prevents a suicide, an accidental shooting, or the kind of tragedy that Pierce’s family has endured. Thank you to Supervisor Sherrill, Assemblymember Stefani, and Pierce’s mother, Lesley, for their tireless work to put this life-saving plan into action.”
“It’s unbelievably courageous of you to relive your pain and your family’s pain so that no one else has to.… I have a 4-year-old and an 11-year-old. I dropped my son off at school today,” Lurie told Hu at the event.
Mayor Lurie placed the new program in the context of his other public safety initiatives, such as the Real-Time Investigation Center and the Rebuilding the Ranks plan. According to the city’s Crime Dashboard, incidents are down almost 30 percent.
For more information about the program, contact the SFPD Property Control Division Firearms Unit at 415-553-1377.