Gardena Joins List of Cities Banning Assault Weapons

The Gardena City Council has banned the sale and possession of semiautomatic assault weapons, joining the cities of Los Angeles, Carson, Compton, Lynwood and Bellflower.

The Gardena ordinance was passed unanimously Tuesday despite complaints from nine gun-owning residents who opposed it. Some residents threatened to sue the city or to violate the ordinance by keeping their weapons after the ban takes effect.

Under the ordinance, the sale of semiautomatic assault weapons--including rifles, machine pistols and certain shotguns--are prohibited immediately, and their possession becomes a misdemeanor after March 1.

The measure prohibits semiautomatic rifles and pistols that accept a magazine of 20 rounds or more, and semiautomatic shotguns with a barrel under 19 inches or a magazine capacity of more than six rounds.

The ordinance was amended to exclude “peace officers, law enforcement officers and military people,” said City Atty. Michael Karger.

Gardena officials are also hoping it will keep semiautomatic weapons out of the hands of street gangs, for whom they have become “the weapon of choice,” said Gardena Mayor Donald Dear.

Also readying bans were officials in two other South Bay cities--Lawndale and Hawthorne.

The Lawndale City Council discussed a proposed ban on assault weapons at an emergency session Monday night, but council members asked for revisions to the proposed ordinance and additional background from the staff and the Sheriff’s Department before reviewing the ordinance at their March 16 meeting.

Lawndale Mayor Sarann Kruse, who strongly favored the ban, said semiautomatic weapons “are made for one thing--mass murder.”

Hawthorne Police Chief Kenneth Stonebraker said he planned to propose a similar ordinance to the Hawthorne City Council at its next meeting Feb. 27.

The effect of the ban in Gardena will be limited. There is one gun shop, which sells no semiautomatic weapons. But there are at least 15 individuals in the city who hold federal firearms licenses, and they would be prohibited from selling the weapons by the new ordinance, said Police Capt. Robert Bohan.

Police Chief Richard Propster told the council he favored the ordinance. He said opponents were misinterpreting it.

“It does not ban nearly so many weapons as a cursory reading would indicate,” Propster said. The ordinance will help police by removing “a certain amount of firepower from the streets,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a cure-all, but it’s one more tool in a box that’s frankly short of tools.”

Some Gardena residents argued that the ordinance violates their right to bear arms and would prohibit law-abiding citizens rather than criminals from owning the weapons.

“I feel a hysteria has gripped many public officials,” said Kai Giffin, adding that he will be “forced to join the criminal element on March 1” because he does not intend to give up his Colt AR-15 semiautomatic rifle.

Giffin, president of the Gardena Kiwanis Club, told the council he bought the rifle, as well as a handgun, to protect his family from looters during an earthquake or other catastrophe.

‘Citizens Have a Right’

“If police abandon us at that time of need and I’m met with a force of superior firepower, my family would perish and so would I,” said the gray-suited Giffin. “Law-abiding citizens like myself should have a right to protect our families.”

Competitive target shooter Gary Hallgren said the assault rifle in his $3,000 gun collection is also “a camping tool used for recreation and for personal enjoyment . . . never built for anything but putting holes in paper.”

“Why do you want to make me a criminal?” Hallgren asked the council.

Gun collector Ed Kramer said the ordinance was “just another jump-on-the-bandwagon deal; it’s a farce. If you make (a semiautomatic gun) inoperable you have in effect confiscated the weapon because you’ve made it useless for what it was originally bought for.”

Kramer said he planned to file a lawsuit against the city on March 2, the day after the ordinance would take effect.

But after a short debate, the council overruled the residents’ arguments.

“These assault weapons have no place in our community by anyone with the possible exception of law enforcement officers,” Dear said.

Councilman Mas Fukai, who argued strongly for the ban, said it would send a message to semiautomatic gun dealers “that you’re not wanted here, you can’t sell here.”