Bill in Congress Would Outlaw Sale of Semiautomatics

Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio), a leading congressional advocate of gun controls, on Tuesday announced legislation to prohibit the importation and sale of new semiautomatic weapons such as the AK-47 assault rifle that killed five children in a Stockton schoolyard last week.

Metzenbaum said he was prompted to introduce the bill by news reports that sales of AK-47s and similar rifles have increased across the nation since the senseless murders.

“Instead of reacting in horror to the massacre of five innocent children, a frightening number of people are rushing out to buy these weapons while they are still easy to get,” he said. “We must stop the run on these deadly weapons.”

Under the bill, the same restrictions that apply to machine guns would be imposed on semiautomatic assault weapons. Current federal law bans the sale of new machine guns, and the resale of existing machine guns requires a rigorous background check of potential purchasers.

These background investigations would identify a purchaser’s record of arrests and convictions and would require law enforcement authorities to certify in writing that a gun was not being purchased for illegal purposes.

Metzenbaum said his bill would have prevented Patrick Edward Purdy from purchasing the AK-47 that he used in the Stockton murders. Although he had a criminal record, Purdy purchased his weapon over the counter at an Oregon store after showing standard identification and completing a federal form. Similar regulations apply in California. Both states have a waiting period before a purchaser can take possession of a handgun, but there is no such wait for rifles.

In California, meantime, more momentum built for proposed state legislation, drafted by a statewide law enforcement coalition, also aimed at banning the manufacture and sale of certain semiautomatic military-style guns.

Los Angeles County supervisors voted 3 to 1 to support the proposed bill by Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), which also would require permits for Californians who now legally own the controversial firearms.

In Compton, the City Council unanimously approved an ordinance to prohibit the sale or possession of all semiautomatic firearms except handguns.

“Compton is in the vanguard of doing some good things,” said Mayor Walter R. Tucker.

Compton has been searching for a way to shut down a well-known gun shop, known as Boulevard Auto, where Jesse Jackson made a speech against guns in the course of his presidential primary campaign.

The new ordinance, which takes effect in 30 days, exempts semiautomatic handguns from the ban. Last year, the council adopted an ordinance against handguns but rescinded it two weeks later.

Efforts in California to outlaw semiautomatics like the AK-47, Uzi, AR-15 and MAC-10 have failed in the last few years in the Legislature, primarily because of the uncompromising opposition of the politically influential National Rifle Assn.

Sold legally across the counter to anyone 18 or older who can provide standard identification, the rifles have become a favorite of street gangs, drive-by shooters and drug dealers, especially in Los Angeles.

Testifying before county supervisors Tuesday, Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block acknowledged that gun control opponents may fear the state legislation, expected to be introduced next week, but he assured the board that it would not result in confiscation of firearms from people with a legitimate reason to own them--hunters, target shooters and collectors.

“I think it’s important that we send a message to Sacramento that people here are concerned about this,” said board Chairman Ed Edelman. “What we’re trying to do is prevent the use of these weapons by drying up the supply.”

Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who cast the only no vote, argued that while the proposed state legislation calls for tougher penalties for criminals who use semiautomatic rifles, it doesn’t go far enough.

“It’s time to get serious and push for a mandatory life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for teen-agers, juveniles or adults utilizing automatic weapons in a criminal act,” Antonovich said.

In a related matter, Police Chief Daryl F. Gates urged Gov. George Deukmejian to take the political lead in ridding California of military-style assault weapons. Deukmejian last week indicated that he is sympathetic to such a plan, but said he wants to study it more fully.

In a letter dated last Thursday, two days after the Stockton schoolyard massacre by a deranged gunman, Gates said he believed in the constitutional right to bear arms, but said that “recent events have convinced me that we should stop thinking in terms of ‘gun control’ and start doing something about a reasonable right to bear arms.”

“A reasonable right to bear arms does not mandate that weapons designed and built for the specific purpose of killing human beings, on battlefields, be made available to the general public,” he told Deukmejian. “Yet, through terrible errors in judgment, we have allowed that to happen. It is time to correct those errors.”

Gates, a potential Republican candidate for governor next year, noted that military assault weapons often end up “in the hands of criminals and crazies,” and it is time these guns are “legislated out of the hands of killers.”

Getlin reported from Washington and Ingram from Sacramento. Also contributing to this story were Times staff writers Victor Merina in Los Angeles and Michelle Fuetsch in Compton.