Santa Monica Weighs Assault-Weapons Ban

An emergency ordinance banning the sale and possession of rapid-fire assault weapons in Santa Monica will go before the City Council in two weeks.

The council voted unanimously Tuesday night to instruct the city attorney to prepare the ordinance. Three other motions regarding firearms also were passed unanimously.

Councilman David Finkel proposed the motion, which he placed on the agenda the morning after a gunman killed five children with an AK-47 semiautomatic rifle at a Stockton elementary school last month.

‘Scourge of Country’

Finkel called semiautomatic weapons “the scourge of the country,” and he urged Santa Monica to join a statewide effort to ban them.

“We can either sit back and let the debate die out, or add our voice,” he said. “The more cities that act out, the more likely the state will do something.”

Two people spoke against the proposed ban at the council meeting.

Santa Monica resident Thomas E. Locke, a member of the National Rifle Assn., argued that instead of outlawing semiautomatic guns, the city should seek stiffer penalties for people who injure or kill others with them. He also proposed stricter background checks on potential purchasers.

“People are abusing arms,” Locke said, “but there’s also a need to protect ourselves from criminals. Let’s not restrict our right to bear arms, but the right for criminals to use them.”

E. Bruce Jochim, owner of one of Santa Monica’s two gun stores, also opposed the ban. He urged the enactment of a 15-day waiting period for the purchase of semiautomatics. A mandatory 15-day waiting period exists for the purchase of handguns.

“It’s not the firearms,” Jochim said. “It’s the people.”

In addition to the ban, two motions included instructions to the city’s lobbyist to study joining a statewide lobbying effort to strengthen firearm control laws in California. A final motion suggested gun and violence prevention programs for youths.

Councilwoman Christine Reed said that although she supported a ban on semiautomatic and automatic weapons, she had doubts about the constitutionality of the ban.

“I don’t want my vote to be construed as instructing the city to go about questioning the Second Amendment (right to bear arms),” she said. “I don’t mind having a battle with the NRA, I just don’t want to have a battle with the federal Constitution.”

City Atty. Robert M. Myers said the emergency ordinance would probably be drawn up by the next council meeting Feb. 28.