Jason Gibbs public comment February 12, 2026 meeting

Good afternoon commissioners. Jason Gibbs, retired librarian.

We heard an excellent presentation from facilities at the previous meeting where we learned that incidents are down at the library. That may be true in quantity but not in quality. 

Staff was very unsettled by the lethal shooting at the main library in September that the library did not evenrecord as an incident. The lethal stabbing of a civil servant at SF General Hospital in December was also very alarming for public service workers. 

Two weeks ago, a member of the public was loudly talking to himself at an internet computer on the fourth floor. Another patron came to the reference desk to ask that the distracting noise be addressed. 

The librarian approached the patron who immediately started yelling at the librarian. He then pulled out a gun and put it on the table. It's unclear whether this was a real gun. It could have been an air pistol because the barrel was painted orange. On the other hand, an internet search will reveal that felons know to disguise a lethal weapon using this color. In any case, the intent was to menace the librarian. 

Alone at the desk, he called security, describing the patron and emphasizing the weapon, then walked away from the danger while the patron continued to loudly threaten him. The patron left on his own. 

Security did not respond, which is understandable. Who wants to be in a dark blue uniform encountering a potentially murderous person? The disappointing part of this is that no attempt was made to visually ID the man who would have crossed the path of security cameras. 

The man committed a level one infraction and should have been suspended for a year and was not. After the fact, staff learned conflicting information. One was that only our sheriffs are allowed to handle situations with firearms. 

The staff member was later told, "Don't call security. Call 911." It's obvious that the library is not prepared for and does not train for this kind of incident. It fell short of an active shooter incident for which staff is trained, but still potentially dangerous and is frightening. 

Imagine you saw someone with a weapon with a weapon in the audience today. How would you feel? What would you do?