It’s Nothing to Celebrate

Some people may get a bang out of firing weapons on holidays, but Santa Ana city officials are determined to end the dangerous and illegal practice before it becomes a deadly tradition in their community. The action comes none too soon.

Each year the number of bullets fired seems to grow. The reported near-hits serve as grim reminders that it is only a matter of time before more people are seriously wounded or killed by the stray bullets fired so foolishly into the air.

In an effort to bring more safety and sanity to holiday observances, the city will launch a new prevention program in time for the Cinco de Mayo celebration that begins May 5. The program will employ a bilingual approach--using flyers, video-taped programs and public-service announcements distributed at schools, churches and neighborhood meetings. The educational effort is aimed at impressing on people how nonsensical--and illegal--it is to use weapons to celebrate.

A special squad of officers will also be deployed into targeted areas to stop the gunfire and make arrests, and police have asked the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to assist in enforcing federal laws that illegal immigrants break by possessing and firing firearms--which for them is a felony. For citizens the illegal firing of a gun is a misdemeanor.

Although random shooting is most prevalent on New Year’s Eve, police also receive gunfire complaints on Christmas, July 4 and Sept. 16, Mexican Independence Day. Last New Year’s Eve, Santa Ana police reported receiving more than 100 complaints about random shooting that left three people injured and caused property damage in about 50 instances.

The police decision to work with the INS and seek the deportation of illegal immigrants involved in random shootings ends a longstanding policy instituted by Police Chief Ray Davis, who retires this month, against working with INS agents. That is a step backward. We still think that local police should maintain their policy of not enforcing federal immigration law. The issue, however, is not deportation. It’s public safety and cultural readjustment. The best and most workable solution to control the holiday random gunfire is a year-round bilingual information and education program.