The State - News from May 15, 1986

San Diego Police Chief William Kolender told a state Capitol memorial service for 12 slain officers that tougher gun controls are needed to “stop the proliferation of handguns” and make the streets safer. “The days of the Wild West and the last frontier have long passed,” Kolender told an audience in the Senate chamber that included Gov. George Deukmejian and Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp. “The armed pioneers today are street gangs and drug dealers,” he added, saying that a gang member once told him that he could get a gun within 20 minutes after being released. “Almost all police officers killed last year were killed with firearms, most of them handguns,” Kolender said.