Should reserve peace officers be able to buy assault rifles to use on the job?

A group of reserve law enforcement officers has sued Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris, contending her office has improperly ended a longstanding practice of allowing them to have assault weapons while on duty.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles by the California Reserve Peace Officers Assn., says state law permits part-time sworn officers and deputies to have semiautomatic rifles if authorized by their departments. California law defines such rifles as assault weapons.

Among the reserve officers who sought to register such a rifle was Martin Llanos, who was one of the first responders during last year’s terrorist attack in San Bernardino. Llanos, whose other job is in real estate, had only a handgun.

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Following the attack, he sought and obtained permission from the San Bernardino Police Department to acquire a semiautomatic rifle and carry it with him on patrol. The suit said the Police Department did not have the funds to purchase one for him.

But the state Bureau of Firearms, which Harris oversees, refused to register the rifle based on its classification as an assault weapon and ordered him to dismantle it or turn it into a law enforcement agency, the suit said.

A letter from the bureau said reserve officers may use department-assigned assault weapons but may not own them for personal use.

David Beltran, communications director for the attorney general, said the Bureau of Firearms complies with state law.

“We will review the lawsuit once we are served,” he said. “However, the bureau’s policy is consistent with California law. This is simply complying with state law, and the power to effectively change it lies with the Legislature.”

Sean A. Brady, a lawyer representing the reserve officers, said the group decided to sue after the bureau refused to register semiautomatic rifles for several reserve officers.

Brady said Harris’ office had been registering the guns for reserve officers until late last year, and nothing in the law had changed to warrant a new policy.

The decision to “deny a critical source of protection for police and communities throughout our state during a time of rising terrorism seems to be motivated by little more than election year politics, instead of concern for public or officer safety,” Brady said. Harris is running for the U.S. Senate.

About 600 law enforcement agencies in California, including the Los Angeles police and L.A. County sheriff’s departments, employ 5,000 reserve officers. They are required to undergo training and pass the same background checks required of full-time officers. Department policies vary as to how reserves are used. Some are paid, others are not.

The part-time sworn reserves are ranked in three categories. The highest level reserve officer is permitted under state law to work alone. Law enforcement agencies can impose their own restrictions on reserves, denying some the right to carry a gun or requiring that they work only with a full-time officer.

Kevin Bernzott, chief executive of the reserve officers association, owns an institutional money management company and works about half-time for the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office. His current assignment is to do background checks on people who apply to carry concealed guns.

“It is unfortunate that we have to ask a judge to compel the attorney general to do her job,” Bernzott said. “It is frustrating.”

Some departments pay for semiautomatic rifles for their full-time officers, others do not, Bernzott said. Officers can and do purchase their own rifles and carry them on patrol, he said. The kind many use can be customized to a particular individual, he said.

Brady said most officers and deputies have semiautomatic rifles, which can be fired more accurately at a longer distance than pistols.

Local law enforcement agencies began supplying full-time officers with deadlier weapons after the 1997 North Hollywood shootout, in which 11 Los Angeles police officers were injured. Two bank robbers with automatic weapons overwhelmed the first responders, whose guns were largely ineffective against the heavy artillery of two bank robbers.

maura.dolan@latimes.com

Twitter: @mauradolan

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UPDATES:

3:55 p.m.: This article was updated to include a fuller quote from the attorney general’s spokesman.

This article was originally published at 10:40 a.m.