L.A. Council Enacts Ban on Assault Guns

Over strong gun owner objections and to the cheers of South-Central Los Angeles residents, the city enacted an emergency ordinance Tuesday outlawing the sale and possession of semiautomatic weapons such as the AK-47 assault rifle.

Beginning today, selling or offering to sell such assault weapons is illegal within the city limits. In 15 days, owners of the rapid-firing military-style rifles must render them inoperable or surrender them to police for destruction.

Those violating the new law face six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Used in Gang Shootings

Assault rifles have been used increasingly in shootings involving gangs in Los Angeles and elsewhere. A gunman armed with an AK-47 killed five schoolchildren and injured more than two dozen in Stockton last month, prompting a number of legislative attempts to ban such weapons statewide.

Gun owners and a National Rifle Assn. attorney predicted that the courts will strike down the Los Angeles ordinance. But even if the law overcomes legal challenges, gun owners and some law enforcement officials predict that it will be ineffective. They argued that criminals and gang members will not relinquish their rifles and can easily go to nearby cities to buy assault weapons legally.

Specifically outlawed are sales and possession of about a dozen semiautomatic rifle types such as the AK-47, AR-15 and Uzi. Sawed-off shotguns and gun kits that can be assembled into an assault weapon are also banned.

A semiautomatic weapon is described in the ordinance as one with a magazine of 20 bullets or more and is able to fire single rounds rapidly with each pull of the trigger.

Mayor Tom Bradley signed the emergency ordinance about an hour after the City Council’s unanimous vote. The 12-0 vote came after a highly emotional and raucous hearing featuring verbal parrying between South-Central residents and flag-waving gun advocates.

Bradley said the new law sponsored by Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky is long overdue and should be used to prod state and federal lawmakers to enact even stronger and more far-reaching bans on semiautomatic rifles.

“I believe the time has come when those of us in elected office simply have to draw the line,” Bradley said. “These weapons cannot be used for any legitimate reason other than to kill people, and I see no justification for anybody to sell them or possess them.”

Noting that cities can only enact misdemeanor laws, Bradley said the state and federal governments should make possession or sales a felony. He added that state or federal laws would also help control the sales of assault weapons in neighboring cities.

Legislation pending in the state Senate and Assembly would make it a felony to possess or sell assault weapons. But sponsors of the state legislation have predicted it will be strongly fought by gun interests who have successfully opposed controls on weapons possession in the past.

Yaroslavsky said he will work to apply pressure on the state by approaching nearby cities to enact similar assault weapon bans. So far, Compton is the only other nearby city to move against semiautomatic rifles. Stockton, stunned by the attack on the schoolchildren, outlawed assault rifles Monday. Bradley and Yaroslavsky said that even if the state fails to act against the semiautomatic weapons, the city’s law will pass muster in the courts. City Atty. James K. Hahn agreed.

Hahn said the new ordinance was carefully crafted to avoid conflicts with existing state or federal firearms law. For example, the new ordinance neither addresses the registration of semiautomatic weapons nor the question of handgun or automatic weapon possession, all of which fall under state control.

City Attorney ‘Confident’

“We feel confident that we can make an argument that the City of Los Angeles under its police powers has the authority to ban the sale and possession of assault weapons. . . ,” Hahn said.

But NRA attorney Richard Gardiner said state law preempts city law in regulating the possession of firearms of any type, including semiautomatic weapons. He was less certain on whether the city could ban the sales of assault weapons.

Gardiner said the 3-million member organization will not directly challenge the Los Angeles ordinance but will probably back an “appropriate plaintiff,” such as a gun shop owner.

Gun shop owner Robert Kohn of B&B; Sales in North Hollywood told reporters that he will simply transfer his assault weapon inventory to his Orange County store in Westminster.

Kohn called the city’s action a “grandstand” and said the increasing popularity of assault rifles is traceable to the recent publicity they have received.

“The public is so panicked that (government) is trying to take away their means of defense that they are buying nationwide in record numbers,” Kohn said. “I’ll probably lose a considerable percentage of business (because of the ordinance), but that’s not involved here. (The city) is trampling on the rights of law-abiding citizens for emotional appeal and political mileage.”

Alan Chamberlain, an NRA member who repairs guns at a Van Nuys shop, said he will defy the new law because “I think what (the city) did was illegal.”

“I’m not releasing my weapons to anybody. . . ,” Chamberlain said. “Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin all pulled this stuff, and that’s why you have communism in those countries where people were unable to protect themselves.”

While the new law’s passage was booed by gun owners, it was cheered by South-Central Los Angeles residents. The rapid-firing weapons have become increasingly popular with some gangs based in South-Central neighborhoods.

The AK-47 and AR-15 rifles have been blamed for a number of drive-by shooting deaths in South-Central Los Angeles. Residents complained bitterly during a one-hour hearing that they have been terrorized by the nightly “chatter” of the semiautomatic guns.

Gun owners complained as well. Opponents said the city ordinance violates their constitutional rights to “bear arms” and said the sweeping nature of the ordinance is unfair.

Firing back, Frances James, a leader of the South Central Organizing Committee, said gun owners opposed to the law did not understand.

“You say it’s your God-given right to have a gun,” James said. “It’s my God-given right to raise my child and know he’ll go to school and know he’ll come back alive.

“I don’t have that right, right now.”

The city of West Hollywood voted Monday to draft an ordinance banning semiautomatic assault rifles and the Compton City Council approved a similar ban by a vote of 5-0 Tuesday night.