Should we allow gun stores to set up shop close to schools and day care centers?
It seems like we’ve been doing it for a long time: Get R Gun in Santa Maria, for instance, is across the street from Santa Maria High School.
In Goleta, prior to recently opening next to Here We Grow Early Learning Center, Goodland Guns shared a property line with Rainbow School with no issues.
But the relocated guns and ammo shop stirred the pot with its move to a long empty building that once housed a 7-Eleven and shares a fence with a preschool that opened in January. Parents sounded the alarm about their children being able to see the gun store parking lot and customers.
Turns out, the move wasn’t illegal. Goleta’s codes allowed it, California’s codes allowed it, and even Santa Barbara County’s codes allowed it. But the county Board of Supervisors decided it wasn’t going to allow it anymore!
The board was so perturbed by the Goleta outrage that it passed an urgency ordinance to ban any new gun shop permits from being issued while the county comes up with a plan to buffer sensitive uses from having to see gun shops. This is only in unincorporated areas, by the way. Cities get to keep their rules, whatever they may be.
And Goleta is trying to do the same thing. It would not be retroactive, so Goodland Guns gets to stay where it’s at and continue its 13-year legacy of operating in Goleta. But parents are pulling their kids from Here We Grow, which sucks for the preschool!
Fifth District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino apparently purchased his gun from Get R Gun in Santa Maria and said it was unfortunate that the shop was across the street from the high school. The county’s retail commercial zoning rules don’t distinguish between gun stores and fast food restaurants, he said.
“So, Wendy’s or a gun store? It’s pretty much [the same],” he joked during the hearing on Sept. 1. “I think if we do this right, there’s a lot of good here. … This just makes sense. It’s not a ban on anything. It is a ‘let’s put it in the right spot.’ It’s just common sense.”
Well, common sense is something that’s lacking these days, unfortunately, which brings me to a conundrum voiced by 4th District Supervisor Bob Nelson: “I, for one, also would have no problem having my kids go to preschool next to a gun store because I really do believe the best thing for a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
I’m not sure I agree with him. Hardening our schools isn’t the answer to gun violence, but apparently Lompoc is with him, 100 percent. The Lompoc Unified School District is using cannabis grant funding to place a school resource officer on a middle school campus.
Because a good guy with a gun can catch pre-teens doing bad things, you know? The reality of what having a law enforcement officer on campus does to students is more complicated, according to numerous studies. But Police Chief Kevin Martin pointed out that those school resource officers can arrest students.
Great!
The Canary isn’t thrilled. Send joy to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in September 10 – September 17, 2026.
