San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria dropped a truth bomb on C-SPAN’s Ceasefire this Friday, telling local governments they have no business begging for federal housing handouts if they haven’t cleaned up their own regulatory messes first. Localities shouldn’t be asking for federal assistance if we haven’t done the work at home, he said, zeroing in on outdated zoning laws, bloated building codes, and sclerotic permitting processes that strangle new housing supply. It’s a rare moment of accountability from a blue-city mayor, admitting that homegrown red tape—not some distant federal boogeyman—is the real culprit behind skyrocketing home prices and homeless encampments choking California’s coastal gem.
But here’s where it gets deliciously relevant for the 2A community: Gloria’s logic is a masterclass in conservative principles we’ve been preaching for decades—fix your own damn rules before crying for D.C. bailouts. Think about the parallels to gun control. Anti-2A mayors in places like San Diego routinely layer on local bans, assault weapon registries, and micro-stamping mandates, then turn around and sue for federal gun violence grants or beg ATF for more enforcement muscle. It’s the same hypocrisy: create artificial shortages through overregulation (of bullets, builds, or bedrooms), then demand taxpayer dollars to paper over the failure. If Gloria’s crew applied this do the work at home ethos to firearms permitting—slashing wait times from 10+ days to instant NICS checks, scrapping feel-good zoning that blocks rural ranges, or reforming codes that treat gun stores like toxic waste sites—we’d see a boom in responsible ownership, just like housing could surge with real reforms.
The implications? This could be a wedge for 2A advocates. As housing costs force young families into gun-friendly red states, press the point: if locals won’t deregulate to solve crises they caused, why trust them with your rights? Gloria’s words validate the battle cry—states’ rights cut both ways, and federal overreach only fills voids left by local folly. Time for pro-2A leaders to echo this: update your codes, or shut up about federal help. San Diego’s housing mess is a warning; don’t let it become the model for our Second Amendment.
