SAN FRANCISCO (TND) — After a Walgreens security guard in San Francisco shot and killed a suspected burglar, a local public official in the city is trying to pass a law preventing security officers from using their firearms to protect property.
The move is earning quite a bit of backlash, including from Twitter CEO and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.
It’s bad enough already. If security guards can’t protect stores, offices, homes or themselves from violent criminals, who would remain in San Francisco?” Musk said in response to the proposed law.
San Francisco’s District 5 supervisor Dean Preston introduced the proposed law this week amid anger from some area residents over the shooting of Banko Brown, a 24-year-old transgender man who was shot and killed by a Walgreens security guard after he attempted to rob the store, according to San Francisco police.
Police initially arrested the security guard, but San Francisco’s district attorney ultimately determined no charges would be pursued at this time and he was released.
The move has stirred a frenzy among some locals who believe Brown’s killing was unjust. They are now pushing for video of the encounter to be released by officials.
As the pressure continues to mount for the district attorney to release the video tape of Walgreens security guard shooting and killing Banko Brown, we also need to take some action to make sure this never happens again,” Preston said in a video posted to social media earlier this week. “That’s why today, at the board of supervisors, I will be calling for legislation to specifically prohibit security guards from drawing their weapons to protect property. Human life is more important than property.”
We need to change our local law so that security guards cannot unholster their weapons just to protect property,” Preston concluded in the video.
After news of Preston’s proposal broke, many critics took to social media to voice their disapproval.
SF leaders are basically openly inciting robbery,” tech entrepreneur Joe Lonsdale said on social media in response to Preston’s proposal. “A security guard damn well can defend you and your property with a gun, in a free country. I’m worried for my friends and colleagues we left behind in this lawless city.”
I agree human life is more important than property, but everyone has the right to defend their property and their life,” responded Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s rapid response director Christina Pushaw. “So here’s an idea perhaps the criminals who steal other people’s property should place a higher value on their own lives, and stop doing crime?”
The National Desk (TND) reached out to Preston for comment on the backlash his proposed law has received, but TND did not hear back prior to publication. If a response is received this story will be updated.
