Taking Aim : L.A. Council Orders Law Drafted Banning Toy Gun Replicas

In an action that advocates hope will serve as a national bellwether, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday moved to ban the sale and manufacture of toy guns that look like the real thing.

The council ordered the city attorney to draft an ordinance making it a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment and a fine for any retailer to sell replicas of firearms or for toy manufacturers to make them in the city. Toy weapons that do not look real, such as a water pistols made of translucent plastic, would not be targeted.

The ordinance, introduced by Councilman Nate Holden, would be among the toughest measures adopted since concern arose over accidental shootings by police officers mistaking the toys for real weapons in the hands of children and others.

The council action comes a month after the City of Burbank imposed a similar ban that becomes effective in January. It was in Burbank that KNBC consumer reporter David Horowitz was approached Aug. 19 by a toy gun-toting man who demanded that he read a statement on live television. Horowitz and police officers were present Tuesday to urge council action against the toys.

On Tuesday night, the Santa Monica City Council gave preliminary approval to a ban on the sale of toy guns.

Threatening Manner

Other local jurisdictions, including Los Angeles County, have made it a crime to brandish replicas of weapons in a threatening manner in the county’s unincorporated areas. A similar statewide law, signed in September by Gov. George Deukmejian, goes into effect Jan. 1.

State Sen. David Roberti (D-Los Angeles) announced last month that he will seek a statewide ban on the sale of realistic-looking guns.

Horowitz, who has made his on-air drama the cornerstone of a national crusade against the replica toys, held up an array of toy and authentic weapons in urging the adoption of the ban.

“This is not a gun-control issue,” Horowitz said. “This is an issue of saving kids’ lives.”

Horowitz was referring to a number of highly publicized cases in which police officers mistakenly shot to death youngsters who they thought were pointing real weapons at them.

After his presentation, Councilwoman Joy Picus expressed dismay that such an ordinance was necessary.

“I am so appalled that society has reached a stage where parents either buy these things for their children or permit their children to buy them or allow them in the house,” Picus said. “Where the hell is the responsibility of the parents to see that their children don’t have these kinds of guns”?

Horowitz told reporters that the Los Angeles City Council vote could send a message to other large cities to adopt similar bans.

“I think this is really going to spread across the United States,” Horowitz said. “I think cities like New York . . . like Chicago . . . other major cities like Miami, which is considering such an ordinance, will follow Los Angeles’ lead.”

Horowitz said that sales of toy guns represent a $200-million-a-year industry, but that manufacturers are becoming sensitive to parental concerns over the weapon replicas.

“The reason people are buying this stuff is not because they want to buy this stuff, it’s because the industry has made it available and has made it camp (for their children) to own it,” Horowitz said.

“I think the toy manufacturers are getting a little indication of what is going to happen, and they’re saying to themselves, ‘Listen guys, we better change these things before these laws are on the books, otherwise we’re going to find ourselves eating a lot of plastic.’ ”

He applauded a recent move by Toys R Us, the country’s largest toy retailer, for telling its suppliers “to come back with toys that are toys and don’t look like anything else.”

Calling Burbank’s action “symbolic,” Horowitz said that the Los Angeles action not only is more significant because of the city’s size, but also because the prohibition would affect many of the toy gun manufacturers who make their headquarters in Los Angeles.

However, toy retailers and wholesalers contacted by The Times said that most replica guns are made in Asia to the specifications of U.S. toy firms.

City officials said it is unlikely that an ordinance could be adopted before the peak of the Christmas shopping rush. But the gun replicas have been popular the year-round, retailers said.

“They sell all the time,” said Gina Mustacchia, manager of Ricky’s Toys, which stocks about 20 different types of replica guns at its Westside Pavilion store. “They sell a lot at Halloween to go with costumes.”

Mustacchia said the store does not sell the guns to people under 18 unless they are accompanied by a parent.

One wholesaler said the toy industry is not surprised by the crusade against replica guns.

“The industry has been anticipating this,” said the wholesaler, who requested anonymity. “Several of the major manufacturers have started putting color and design into their guns” to distinguish the products from authentic weapons.

After years of marketing realistic toy guns, there is now a counter-trend toward colorful, “fantasy” weapons, the wholesaler said.

“It’s evolving. . . . Kids are getting tired of realistic weapons,” he said.

However, he expressed doubt that toy guns themselves will become unpopular.

“Kids like to play with guns,” he said. “That’s the bottom line.”

The Santa Monica City Council voted 6 to 1 to give preliminary approval to a motion by Councilman Alan Katz that would ban the sale of look-alike toy guns and other replica firearms.

“If we truly believe (toy guns are dangerous), then we have just one course: to ban the sale and set a precedent for the state,” he said.

The council had originally considered a softer measure that would have made brandishing toy guns a misdemeanor and would have ordered the placement of warning labels on replica firearms. But at Katz’s urging, the council voted on the stronger measure because they believed it was needed.

The city attorney had recommended against the ban, saying toy guns would still be available in nearby Los Angeles.

But Councilman Herb Katz (no relation to Alan Katz) said the Los Angeles City Council’s action earlier in the day “puts a different light on it.” It would make the Santa Monica proposal “far more enforceable,” he said.

A final vote is scheduled Nov. 24. If approved, the ordinance would take effect in 30 days.

Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson contributed to this article.