Gates Opposes Confiscation Portion of City Weapon Law

Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates said Wednesday that he considers “unreasonable” a key portion of the city’s tough new anti-assault weapon law and will continue to work for passage of a somewhat weaker state version he helped write.

In his first public comments about the emergency law passed Tuesday, Gates said he opposes provisions allowing confiscation of assault weapons from all gun owners. Gates’ stance was a surprise, because his staff had helped draft the city ordinance and a top aide told the City Council on Tuesday that Gates was in accord with it.

The ordinance bans sales of the rapid-firing guns within the city limits and gives owners 15 days to render their weapons inoperable or surrender them to police. Violators face six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Gates’ remarks came on the first day of the controversial ordinance’s implementation. It was a day marked by gun owner confusion, increasing interest by other cities in imposing similar bans and a jump in assault weapon purchases in nearby communities.

“They were lined up at the door this morning, waiting for us to open,” said Steve Cotter of Hilldale Gun Sales in Simi Valley.

Cotter said that by mid-afternoon he had already sold about 12 semiautomatic weapons at prices ranging from $320 to $800.

A manager of B&B; Sales, a gun store in Westminster, said its North Hollywood store soon would transfer its inventory of assault rifles to the Orange County outlet.

Other gun store managers and owners in Orange County said it was business as usual Wednesday.

Bob Allan, owner of the Brea Gun Store, said there were “no significant changes” in sales.

“We don’t normally deal very heavily in that product, but I haven’t seen any great increase in sales as of yet,” Allan said.

Officials in Simi Valley, Burbank, Thousand Oaks and San Fernando said, meanwhile, that they will consider outlawing semiautomatic weapons in their cities. Compton and West Hollywood also have moved against the weapons.

Gates told reporters that his staff is “analyzing” how best to enforce the new law. But he said officers will not stake out gun shops to catch violators.

“We’ve gotten a lot of calls from gun owners asking what they should do,” Gates said. “What we’re saying is, ‘Hold tight.’ ” But he added, “We’ll take any gun that anyone wants to turn in.”

Councilman Nate Holden said he has received many inquiries about his ongoing offer to pay $300 to anyone turning an assault rifle in to police.

Dealer Turned Down

“One gun dealer called and said he had 21 guns and would I buy them,” Holden said Wednesday. “I said, ‘No way.’ ”

According to the Los Angeles Police Commission, there are 115 licensed gun dealers in the city. It is unknown how many of them have sold AK-47s, Uzis and other similar semiautomatic weapons.

A random check of six Los Angeles gun dealers that have offered assault-type firearms for sale found that each had stopped selling the outlawed guns. The majority of dealers contacted declined to comment. But one openly criticized the ban as unconstitutional and irrational.

“We’ve been hoodwinked,” snapped Barry Kahn of B&B; Sales in North Hollywood. “If this stops crime, great. But the last time I checked, it wasn’t the guns doing it, it was people. If that nut in Stockton had gone in there and killed those poor kids with a ’53 Buick, would they have outlawed ’53 Buicks?”

Kahn was referring to the recent tragedy in which five Stockton schoolchildren were killed and 29 others wounded during a shooting spree involving an assault rifle.

Gates told reporters he had helped write “reasonable and balanced” state legislation allowing gun owners to keep their assault weapons, but only with a permit. He said the provisions in the city ordinance on possession of the weapons goes beyond what he personally believes is necessary.

Criticized NRA

“I think (confiscation) is unreasonable and I do not support it,” Gates said. “But I’m chief of police and the law is a city ordinance. And as long as the city attorney says he can prosecute, I’m bound to follow that law.”

The chief also lashed out at gun control opponents, such as the National Rifle Assn. He said some gun owners are “bullheaded” in their blanket opposition to bans on assault rifles.

“I get sick of them waving their flags and their guns in my face,” Gates said. “I’m just as much of a patriot as anybody. In my judgment, (gun control opponents) have not been responsible and they have not been reasonable.

“I want to get rid of those assault weapons. They have no place on the streets of Los Angeles,” Gates continued. “My police officers are tired of facing them and I’m tired of hearing my conservative friends voice their rights under the 2nd Amendment.”

Support Letters Cited

Gates said he has received “a lot of hate mail” since he first advocated restrictions on the rapid-firing guns. But he defended the state legislation as “the kind of law that opponents of gun control can buy into.”

Asked if he felt the NRA could “buy into” the plan, Gates responded that “maybe they are so philosophically aligned in the extreme, they will not back off.” He added, however, that many NRA members had written him to support the proposed restrictions.

NRA attorney Richard Gardiner said the 3 million-member organization will continue to fight any state ban.

The state legislation “still regulates firearms and is still an effort to defraud the public about crime, when in fact less than nothing will have been done,” Gardiner said.

Times staff writers Greg Braxton, Tracey Kaplan, Jeff Mitchell and Steve Padilla contributed to this article.