Jeff Williams

Candidate for Mayor, Needles · Retired Deputy Sheriff

A retired San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy, Jeff Williams has spent years as a public figure in Needles, a small Colorado River city bordering Arizona and Nevada. He is a grandfather of thirteen. During his time in city leadership he became a visible advocate for gun-rights and ammunition-access issues that he says are treated differently by Sacramento than they are by border communities like his own, arguing his city has more in common culturally with neighboring Arizona and Nevada towns than with state lawmakers hundreds of miles away. He has pushed for interstate reciprocity so visitors carrying legal concealed-weapons permits from Arizona and Nevada would not run afoul of California law when passing through, and has pointed to the long drives required for California ammunition purchases as a burden on residents.

Williams has been a leading local voice on Second Amendment issues in Needles, a desert city that borders Arizona and Nevada. He has said residents face long drives — up to 140 miles to Barstow — to legally buy ammunition under state law, and has objected to California's refusal to recognize concealed-carry permits issued by neighboring states, which he says burdens visitors from Arizona and Nevada. He has argued that state lawmakers in Sacramento shape gun policy around large cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles without regard for small, remote border towns. He carries a personal firearm and has described the restrictive gun climate as a threat to the visitor traffic and lifestyle that sustain the local economy.

Profiles are compiled from the candidate’s own statements and public records. We never tell you how to vote.