Automatic Deadliness

Fully automatic weapons are banned in California. The purchase of a handgun requires a 15-day waiting period. But there are no such requirements governing semiautomatic weapons like the Uzi or AK-47 assault rifle. These deadly weapons fire a round of ammunition every time the bearer pulls the trigger. They easily are converted to fully automatic status, capable of firing streams of bullets with a single squeeze of the trigger.

Assemblyman Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles) has sponsored AB 4545, which would prohibit the manufacture, sale or possession of nine specific types of semiautomatic weapons in California. The Legislature should complete action on this bill without delay, and Gov. George Deukmejian should sign it into law. Also deserving support is a Roos measure, AB 4546, that would outlaw plastic guns and other firearms that cannot be picked up by metal detectors like those used at airports. Similar legislation is pending in Congress.

Roos says that the semiautomatic weapon has become popular among gang members and drug dealers, and that an Uzi was used in the San Ysidro mass killing in 1984. His material in support of the bill quotes an Oakland police lieutenant as saying, “These weapons are designed to kill people, and nothing else. They’re not designed for sports. They’re not designed for protection.” There is no reason for anyone in California, except for the properly exempted police and military officials, to be allowed to sell, buy or possess these weapons, whose only purpose is to kill people.