Informal Opinion Says Uzi Already Is Illegal in State

The popular Uzi assault rifle is illegal in California under current state law, according to an informal attorney general’s office opinion being prepared for county prosecutors and local law enforcement agencies. Chief Deputy Atty. Gen. Nelson Kempsky told The Times Friday that a letter will be sent to local officials across the state next week offering help in prosecutions involving possession or sale of the Uzi carbine.

If the opinion were to be upheld in court, it would mean that a state law making it a felony to sell or possess rifles under a certain length has gone unnoticed for years, as it applies to Uzis that are sold in California.

Kempsky said the letter will, in essence, tell prosecutors, “We will cheerfully take on any cases that need to be worked through the appellate courts and offer our assistance . . . in information and research.”

The opinion is based on a state law designed to make it more difficult to conceal weapons. The law bans rifles that measure less than 26 inches in length. The Uzi carbine measures 24.4 inches with its folding stock collapsed and can be fired in that position.

The letter will stress that the law is not “crystal clear,” said Kempsky, and that prosecutors would have to be prepared to prove that the Uzi carbine is “intended to be fired from the shoulder” as rifles are now defined in legislation passed last year.

The unofficial opinion resolves a disagreement within the attorney general’s office about whether a new definition of rifles contained in legislation passed last year includes Uzis, because they can be fired from the hip as well as the shoulder.

Attorneys familiar with the issue say that prosecutors will also have to prove that the Uzi should be measured with its stock folded, rather than extended, as is done by federal authorities. The weapon is 31.5 inches long with the stock extended, making it legal in that configuration.

The opinion that the Uzi is illegal because of its length as measured with the stock folded has at least one precedent. The attorney general in Michigan, basing his opinion on state code language similar to California’s, concluded in 1985 that Uzi carbine rifles are illegal in that state. The weapons were subsequently removed from gun store shelves or modified to meet the law.

Kempsky stressed that it would probably take more than a year for an Uzi possession or sale case to work its way through trial and appeal in California.

“That’s another reason,” he said, “that we think it’s important to proceed with assault weapon legislation (that would ban not only Uzis but other such weapons).”

Popular Weapon

The Israeli-made Uzi is one of the most popular weapons among drug dealers and gang members in California, according to law enforcement officers around the state. California sales account for about 10% of Uzi’s U.S. business, according to Action Arms, the sole importer of the weapon.

The semiautomatic Uzi can be fired either from the shoulder, with the stock extended, or from the hip, with the stock collapsed. It holds up to 32 rounds of 9-millimeter bullets, which are pistol rather than rifle ammunition.

Under the Michigan attorney general’s opinion, dealers and owners may legalize the weapons by installing permanent wooden stocks, welding the folding stocks in their extended position or by lengthening the barrels so that the rifles measure at least 26 inches.

But a large part of the Uzi appeal, gun experts say, is due to the image of Israeli commandos shooting their fully automatic weapons from the hip, with the stocks folded down. The gun does not have much sales appeal as modified under Michigan law, said Ed Deershutzen, owner of Guns Plus in Lansing.

“They’re just a big clunky pistol at that point,” he said.

In 1987, Action Arms introduced a new model Uzi to the American public--the mini-carbine--with a truncated body but a longer barrel that causes the weapon to measure 26.1 inches, with the stock collapsed.

The mini-carbine is available in Michigan and could be expected to take the place of its predecessor on California gun dealer shelves if the original is banned on the basis of length.

But the sales appeal of the mini-carbine is unproven. Action Arms reported 2,000 sales during the weapon’s introductory year, whereas more than 75,000 of the original carbines have been sold since the weapon was first marketed in the United States in 1980, according to the company.

Spokesmen for the district attorneys offices in two California counties that are perhaps most affected by Uzi violence--Los Angeles and Alameda--declined to comment on the unofficial opinion from the attorney general’s office prior to reading it.

Criminal Case

In Alameda County, a criminal case is pending against a defendant for possession of an Uzi--perhaps the only such charge ever lodged in California--but the arrest occurred last year, and the significance of the case became somewhat clouded when the new definition of a rifle went into effect this year.

Ironically, the confusion stemmed from an attempt to clarify the legal status of the Uzi.

Assemblyman Elihu Harris (D-Oakland), concerned with the increasing use of Uzis by drug dealers in the East Bay city, asked the attorney general’s office last year for an opinion on the weapon’s legality.

Harris’ query was based on the fact that the California Penal Code, as then written, made it a felony to sell or possess “a rifle . . . or any weapon made from a rifle . . . (whether by manufacture, alteration, modification or otherwise) if such a weapon, as modified, has an overall length of less than 26 inches.”

Last Aug. 17, Allen Sumner, senior assistant attorney general, wrote to Harris giving a guarded unofficial opinion that the Uzi was illegal.

“Although the legality of the Uzi under present law is not at all clear,” Sumner wrote, “we believe that this weapon is already prohibited. . . .”

Sumner went on to explain that the issue is complicated, in part, by the fact that the weapon has been openly sold for years in California without a legal challenge.

“The Uzi has been on sale in the state for some time,” he wrote, “indicating that local law enforcement officials have apparently concluded that it is legal under current law. This is a factor which courts would take into consideration, making successful prosecution more difficult.”

Still, Sumner said in conclusion that he believed that a “sounder reading” of the Penal Code would prohibit the sale or possession of the Uzi.

Harris subsequently introduced the bill last year to attempt to remove any confusion over the issue, including the prohibition of “a rifle with an overall length of less than 26 inches.”

But the bill also included the definition of a rifle that was not in the old law:

“As used in this section, the term ‘rifle’ means a weapon . . . intended to be fired from the shoulder. . . .”

The language is similar to the federal definition of a rifle and is the same language used in Michigan’s gun code, but it alarmed some lawyers in the attorney general’s office and elsewhere who had not seen the legislation before it was passed.

On Dec. 5, Deputy Atty. Gen. Blair Hoffman wrote in an unofficial opinion to Dave Karp, mayor of San Leandro, that the new definition of a rifle appeared to exempt weapons shot from the hip.

“Weapons intended . . . to be fired from the hip, which are often more dangerous,” he wrote, “appear to be legal and, indeed, unregulated.”

But other opinions within the attorney general’s office and elsewhere differed, and after several weeks, the issue was resolved in favor of the letter being prepared offering to help county prosecutors in cases involving the sale or possession of Uzis.

UZI CARBINE

The Israeli-made Uzi is one of the most popular weapons among drug dealers and gang members in California, according to law enforcement officers. Sales in the state account for some 10% of Uzi’s U.S. business.

Ammunition: 9mm Barrel length: 16.1 inches Length stock extended: 31.5 inches Length stock folded: 24.4 inches Weight (unloaded): 8.4 lbs. Magazine: 20-, 25- (standard) and 32-round Manufacturer: Israel Military Industries