Duffy Accused of Violating State Law : Sheriff Sued Over Gun Permit Records

The Tribune filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing Sheriff John Duffy of violating the state Public Records Act by refusing to let the public review concealed-weapons permits issued by the Sheriff’s Department.

A ruling in October by the state Supreme Court, in a case involving the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, held that such permits were covered by the public records law, according to Harold Fuson Jr., general counsel for The Copley Press, which publishes the Tribune and the San Diego Union.

Nonetheless, according to the suit, Duffy and his department have turned down or ignored a series of requests by the Tribune and the Union for an opportunity to look at the records.

“We offered to give the Sheriff’s Department a reasonable amount of time to put its files in order, but we never got what we regarded as a satisfactory agreement from them,” Fuson said.

Duffy declined through a spokesman to comment on the matter because it is in litigation.

According to the latest available statistics, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department has issued 2,676 permits allowing private citizens to carry concealed weapons--six times as many as in Los Angeles County and more than seven times as many as in Orange County.

Fuson said the numbers alone were sufficient to prompt the Union and Tribune’s interest in examining the permit records.

“There are a lot of permits out in this county, and our reporters are interested in reviewing who’s got those permits and making sure the public interest is being served in the sheriff’s administration of his power to award the permits,” he said.

In an interview with the Times in October, Duffy said he would not issue a permit over a municipal police chief’s strong objection. But under most circumstances, he said, he issues permits to virtually all “law-abiding citizens who feel, whether it is true or not, that they are protecting themselves by having a concealed weapon.”

When The Times obtained access to the gun permit records in November, 1983, it found that businessmen, television newscasters and politicians were authorized to carry concealed weapons--along with 56 of the 300 contributors to Duffy’s 1982 re-election campaign.