To Spray a Crowd

Weapons like the AK-47 assault rifle are instruments of warfare and terror, not sport. These guns were made with just one purpose in mind: to kill people, lots of people, and to kill them with deadly swiftness and awesome power. This is not a defensive weapon for protecting the average American’s home. This is not a gun designed to knock down or disable a potential attacker. As one Los Angeles-area youth-gang member put it, his colleagues need the assault rifles “to spray a crowd.”

To spray a crowd. That is what Patrick Edward Purdy did in Stockton not long ago. He sprayed an unsuspecting crowd of elementary-school children, sending five to their deaths and wounding 30 others. An assailant sprayed a crowd on a Los Angeles freeway a week ago, killing two. Another sprayed Raynard Evans with at least 15 bullets while walking along a Compton street the other day, ripping him to death. How many more must get caught in the spray?

The city of Los Angeles, at least, has begun to fight back, joining Compton and Stockton with ordinances banning assault rifles within their jurisdictions. A Los Angeles City Council that rarely is unanimous on anything voted 12 to 0 to ban the sale and possession of AK-47s, Uzis and other such weapons of war.

There are lots of arguments as to why the city’s action will not be very effective. The person really intent on big-time killing will just cross the city line to buy his assault rifle. Gang members will not give up their weapons. And what’s a $1,000 fine to someone who leads a life of illegality, anyway? But it is a start. Anything that can be done to limit the supply of these instruments of street warfare is a positive step. The fewer assault weapons there are, the less likely that people are going to get killed.

Most important, the Los Angeles council action should be a message to the California Legislature that a significant majority of law-abiding Californians wants the sale of assault weapons stopped. Legislators should not be cowed by the gun lobby’s threat to get them if there is any abridgment of their so-called right to bear arms. The paramount role of the Legislature in this matter is to protect the lives of innocent citizens.

To spray a crowd. The AK-47 is “a simple robust and handy weapon” that has found particular favor with guerrilla and nationalist movements, says Jane’s Infantry Weapons. Robust indeed. And far too handy. The state Legislature should ban the sale of assault rifles before more innocent Californians are sprayed.