A mayor in Northern California has ordered that flags on city property be flown at half-staff until he sees “action from Congress” on gun control legislation.
San Rafael Mayor Gary Phillips announced this week that flags on city property would not be raised following this weekend’s shootings in Texas and Ohio, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
President Trump ordered that flags across the country be lowered to half-staff until sunset Thursday in the wake of the shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, but Phillips said this week during a city council meeting that he intends to keep them that way until Congress, which is on recess, takes significant action.
“Do I have to wait until someone in San Rafael, in our family, gets killed to take further action?” Phillips said. “I’m just tired of waiting.”
The shootings, which killed 31 in total, were preceded by a shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California, which killed three and injured about a dozen others.
“I’ve had it simply lowering the flag,” Phillips said at a Thursday afternoon press conference. “For me, it’s simple: I am completely fed up with Congress not taking action.”
“I’m not going to put the flags back up until I see action from Congress,” he added. “I think it’s way past time for them to get off their dime and do something about this matter. I’m doing what I think is the appropriate thing to do. I don’t want to wait simply for four or five days, put the flags back up.”
Phillips said the order would formally last until Sept. 16, and if Congress hasn’t made progress on gun legislation, he would ask the city council to decide whether to keep the flags at half-staff. The mayor wouldn’t specify what specific actions he wants to see Congress take.
