SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved Tuesday legislation that will ban private security guards from drawing firearms to stop shoplifting. City supervisors said the law is a response to the killing of Banko Brown at a Market Street Walgreens store on April 27, 2023.
The law was proposed by Supervisor Dean Preston, who said at the time of the incident involving a private security guard working at Walgreens shooting and killing Brown, the city’s police code allowed security to draw their guns in response to an actual threat to people as well as in the defense of property.
“We should be doing everything in our power to prevent something like the killing of Banko Brown from happening again,” Preston said in a statement after the approval.
According to city officials, state training limited unholstering a gun to only situations involving defending life, but San Francisco’s law was more permissive. Training also acknowledged that drawing a weapon can escalate interactions. This legislation would place the city more in line with those state guidelines.
While the new law was passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Mayor London Breed could still veto it.
