State Senate Votes to Ban Assault Guns : Deukmejian Pledges to Sign Bill if Sports Arms Aren’t Included

The state Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to pass legislation banning Uzis, AK-47s and other military combat weapons in California, handing the pro-gun lobby a severe defeat.

Gov. George Deukmejian, meanwhile, declared his willingness to sign “legislation that bans possession and sale of an assault-type weapon,” provided it clearly distinguishes between hunting and sporting arms and semiautomatic military guns.

Passage of the heavily lobbied Senate bill and Deukmejian’s pledge to sign a measure that does not create “confusion and uncertainty” seemed to suggest that, barring unforeseen developments, California this year will enact a law prohibiting semiautomatic assault weapons.

Lobbying Campaign

The Assembly remains a substantial obstacle for the legislation. The National Rifle Assn. has mounted a vigorous lobbying campaign to defeat an assault-weapon ban in the lower chamber, and the author of a milder Assembly version of the legislation indicated earlier this week that he did not yet have the votes to ensure passage.

Advocates of the ban expressed hope that Deukmejian’s comments Thursday would encourage some Assembly Republicans to support some version of the legislation.

Deukmejian, a long-time advocate of gun owner rights who recently announced his opposition to assault weapons, indicated that he favors the less restrictive Assembly version of the gun bill rather than what the Senate approved Thursday.

The Senate bill, by President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), would essentially prohibit the manufacture, sale, transfer and general possession of semi-automatic assault firearms, including rifles, pistols and shotguns. The measure now goes to the Assembly.

Passage of the bill on a lopsided 27-12 vote marked the first time since 1974 that any significant gun-control legislation had cleared the Senate, legislative records show. The last successful bill extended the waiting period for purchase of a handgun from five to 15 days.

Over the past several years, previous efforts to ban assault firearms have failed in the Assembly, largely because of opposition by the NRA, whose members number 250,000 in California.

A spokesman for the NRA expressed “disappointment” at the Senate action Thursday and asserted that the bill merely applied “more political cosmetics” to the problem of controlling crime.

The spokesman, Steve Mays, refused to forecast whether the NRA could stop the Legislation in the Assembly. But he said the Assembly “is where we have the most support and we look forward to continued support.”

Pending in the Assembly for an expected floor vote Monday is a bill by Assemblyman Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles) that would outlaw by manufacturer and model about 40 specific firearms listed as “assault” weapons, including the Israeli-made Uzi and the AK-47, used by the military in many Communist countries.

However, Roos has said he is three votes short of winning Assembly passage of his bill. At committee hearings, Democrats have voted for the measure but so far only one Republican, Assemblyman Charles W. Quackenbush of Saratoga, has broken ranks to support it.

Although the Roberti and Roos bills were proposed before the Jan. 17 murders of five children in a Stockton schoolyard by a deranged rifleman firing an AK-47, the Stockton tragedy provided the emotional spark needed in the Legislature to get the bills moving swiftly.

“How much blood is going to have to be spilled until we in the Legislature recognize that this legislation must pass?” Roberti asked senators rhetorically on Thursday. “How many tragedies like Stockton will we have to endure before we realize that we must act?”

Adding to the pressure for legislative action have been various ordinances adopted by local governments throughout the state that outlawed assault weapons. The NRA is backing a lawsuit in the state Supreme Court that challenges gun bans enacted by Los Angeles and Stockton.

In the Senate, five Republicans joined 21 Democrats and an independent in voting for the Roberti proposal, which needed only 21 votes. Two Democrats and 10 Republicans voted “no.”

One Republican, Sen. Marion Bergeson of Newport Beach, who usually opposes legislation to restrict guns, told the Senate that she had changed her mind. “It’s time we draw the line. How is law enforcement going to carry out their duty if they are outgunned at every instance?” she asserted.

Opponents, however, charged that banning rapid-firing assault guns designed to kill in war would do nothing to control crime. They contended that criminals would always have access to guns.

Sen. John Doolittle of Rocklin, chairman of the GOP caucus, told his colleagues that “in the back rooms, when we talk about this, we all admit that this will not solve the (crime) problem.”

Further, Doolittle said, the bill’s broad definition of an assault rifle would include sporting arms and would outlaw them as well. Supporters deny this and insist they do not want to prohibit sporting guns.

Sen. Don Rogers (R-Bakersfield) indicated that his constituents in remote parts of the Mojave Desert need semiautomatics for home protection and told Roberti that he was “after the wrong target. Leave the guns alone.”

But Sen. Diane Watson, a Democrat whose district stretches from the edge of South-Cental Los Angeles to Marina del Rey and suffers from heavy gang activity, warned senators that “the gangs are branching out and if they are not in your districts right now, they soon will be. The gangs are rolling.”

One hunter, Sen. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove), conceded that thousands of semiautomatic assault weapons are imported into the United States each year for sale and that the Roberti plan would not eliminate them.

“But must they be on every street corner, in every dime store and under every bed before we get wise?” he asked.

While the Roos bill identifies specific firearms to be banned, the Roberti bill contains a much-disputed generalized definition of what constitutes an assault weapon. Critics maintain that under the broad “generic” definition, semiautomatic hunting rifles and shotguns would be prohibited.

At a press conference, Deukmejian noted that the definition in the Roberti bill is “susceptible to a number of interpretations and creates a lot of uncertainty as to which weapons are covered.”

“I certainly would not look favorably on any legislation that would create confusion or uncertainty,” he said, adding that the Roos bill identifies by make and model the guns proposed for elimination.

Roberti said later that he was willing to negotiate changes in the Assembly that would create legislation acceptable to Deukmejian. “I want to work this out with the governor,” he said.

Here is the roll call by which the Senate approved the assault gun bill:

Democrats for (21): Alfred E. Alquist, San Jose; Ruben S. Ayala, Chino; Daniel Boatwright, Concord; Wadie P. Deddeh, Bonita; Ralph C. Dills, Gardena; Garamendi; Cecil Green, Norwalk; Bill Greene, Los Angeles; Leroy Greene, Carmichael; Gary K. Hart, Santa Barbara; Milton Marks, San Francisco; Dan McCorquodale, San Jose; Henry J. Mello, Watsonville; Joseph B. Montoya, Whittier; Nicholas C. Petris, Oakland; Robert B. Presley, Riverside; Roberti; Herschel Rosenthal, Los Angeles; Art Torres, Los Angeles; Rose Ann Vuich, Dinuba; Diane Watson, Los Angeles.

Democrats against (2): Barry Keene, Benicia; Bill Lockyer, Hayward.

Republicans for (5): Bergeson; Robert G. Beverly, Manhattan Beach; William Craven, Oceanside; Becky Morgan, Los Altos Hills; John Seymour, Anaheim.

Republicans against (10): William Campbell, Hacienda Heights; Ed Davis, Valencia; Doolittle; Bill Leonard, Big Bear; Ken Maddy, Fresno; James W. Nielsen, Rohnert Park; Rogers; Edward R. Royce, Anaheim; Newton R. Russell, Glendale; Larry Stirling, San Diego.

Independent for (1): Kopp, San Francisco.

Not voting (1): Alan Robbins (D-Tarzana).