Republicans Offer Gun Rules Alternative

Assembly Republicans on Thursday proposed tighter restrictions on purchases of all firearms as an alternative to Democratic-sponsored legislation that would outlaw the manufacture and sale of semiautomatic assault rifles.

The Republican lawmakers maintained that their program probably would have prevented last month’s Stockton schoolyard massacre. They said it would keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill, but still enable law-abiding citizens to purchase semiautomatic weapons.

The bills, by Assemblymen Tom McClintock of Thousand Oaks and Richard L. Mountjoy of Monrovia, were unveiled at a press conference presided over by Republican Minority Leader Ross Johnson of La Habra. The measures represented the Assembly GOP alternative to outlawing such military weapons as the AK-47 used in the Stockton killings.

The two-bill package closely parallels recommendations of the National Rifle Assn., which strongly opposes the anti-assault rifle legislation by Senate Leader David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblyman Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles). State Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp and Gov. George Deukmejian also are supporting a ban on semiautomatic assault weapons.

An NRA spokesman said the organization had not yet endorsed the GOP plan because the bills were not in printed form.

Basically, the plan would:

- Expand the list of people for whom it would be illegal to purchase, possess or transfer any firearm to include those convicted of a felony, “violent” misdemeanor, illegal drug use or who had been found by a court to be mentally unfit.

Rifles and shotguns can now be purchased over the counter by anyone 18 and older who shows standard identification and answers a federal questionnaire on whether he or she is a drug addict, fugitive or mental incompetent. Handgun purchasers must wait 15 days until a criminal background check is completed by the state Department of Justice.

- Establish a hot line between gun dealers and the state Justice Department, which keeps computerized records on criminals and people found to be mentally unstable by a court. A would-be gun purchaser would fill out a form waiving the right to privacy and the dealer would ask the department if the customer was eligible to buy the firearm.

Eventually, the department’s computer would be plugged into a newly authorized national crime records system enabling California authorities to learn whether a potential firearm purchaser had a criminal record elsewhere.

The proposed legislation also would eliminate plea bargaining in cases involving crimes committed with firearms. This provision would be subject to voter approval because it amends the state Constitution.

For those convicted of using a firearm during a crime, the sentence for the basic offense automatically would be doubled. The Democrats’ proposal also calls for stiffer penalties for use of a gun in a crime.

Untouched by the GOP legislation would be the 15-day waiting period for handgun purchases. The Republicans said they did not want their bill to get caught up in potential controversy over extending the waiting period to other firearms.

Johnson called the GOP proposal “comprehensive, balanced, thoughtful and effective” in keeping guns out of the wrong hands. The Republicans asserted that under their plan, “someone such as Patrick Edward Purdy would have been in jail, not on the Stockton schoolyard Jan. 17.”