Gates Chides Gun Groups, Abortion Foes in GOP Talk

In the first important speech of his long-shot exploratory campaign for governor, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates went on the attack Saturday against some of those who should be his natural base of support: politically active conservatives.

By his own description, Gates is a conservative Republican, and he went before the conservative grass-roots California Republican Assembly with a take-me-or-leave-me denunciation of the tactics of anti-abortion protesters and of the uncompromising views of some gun owners.

Both special-interest constituencies are deeply rooted in the right wing of the GOP, which is the turf of the California Republican Assembly. About 400 members of the volunteer organization gathered in Costa Mesa to hear Gates and the party’s front-running candidate for governor, U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson.

Gates charged that high-profile pro-gun and anti-abortion activists had failed to “balance” their exercise of constitutional rights with social “responsibility” and respect for the law.

Particularly fresh--and for the conservative audience, painful--was the memory of the previous Saturday’s demonstration of anti-abortion activists from “Operation Rescue.” Nearly 300 were carried away by Los Angeles police officers and arrested. In some cases, the LAPD applied “pain compliance” holds to move protesters.

“I didn’t enjoy that . . . I don’t like pain compliance. But people, don’t make our job more difficult,” Gates told his politically minded audience.

“Police officers are pro-life. Police are out there protecting lives all the time,” he continued. “I had 300 officers there--300 officers that ought to have been down in South- Central L.A. keeping some kid or some senior citizen from being shot down.”

Views Not Stated

Gates has not disclosed his own views on abortion yet in this campaign. But he said he will by summer, if he decides to retire from the police force and devote himself to the race.

His speech was received well, but afterward some angry CRA activists surrounded Gates and challenged him. Some charged his officers with brutality. Some said he failed to understand how protesters held a time-honored place in American society all the way back to the Boston Tea Party. Face-to-face with critics, the police chief jabbed the air with his finger and snapped, “Baloney!”

“If I have to represent people who want to break the law, I don’t want to be governor,” he said.

In his address, Gates seemed to relish the irony that conservatives 20 years ago were on the other side of the protest issue when anti-war demonstrators took to the streets. Conservatives, Gates said, “were cheering us on when we were out cleaning up all the demonstrators those days.”

‘Gone Far Enough’

As for gun owners, Gates repeated his belief that sales of assault rifles should be outlawed and existing weapons registered with authorities. The 40-year police veteran said he was opposed to gun control.

“But ladies and gentlemen, we have gone far enough in the arming of America,” he said.

Gates did not limit his criticism to conservatives for failing to balance individual rights with social responsibility. He took on labor unions in law enforcement and public transportation for resisting random drug testing. He noted that passengers have to give up privacy rights when going through security checks at airports but said pilots refuse to give up their own privacy rights and submit to drug testing before flying.

Gates, who has so far found politics and law enforcement an uncomfortable mix, described his appearance as strictly official police business.

But for many in GOP politics, this was the first opportunity of the 1990 campaign to see Gates on the stump.

Word of Caution

He warned the group--and through it, Republicans elsewhere--not to be too quick to discourage him from running. Many Republican leaders believe it would harm the party to have a contested primary election. They prefer a clear field for Wilson.

“That’s probably the worst thing you can do to me, to suggest I shouldn’t do something,” Gates declared. “That just makes me want to do it.”

If Gates found it awkward to delve into pure politics, not so Wilson, who knows this audience well. He spoke of such common desires as electing a Republican governor as a check against the Democrats’ control over redrawing legislative and congressional districts after the 1990 census, toppling Assembly Speaker Willie Brown of San Francisco and wresting control of the state’s congressional delegation.

But Wilson offered no comfort to anti-abortion activists who are willing to commit civil disobedience to make their point.

Not only is Wilson pro-choice, he said Gates is correct.

“However sincere and deep the conviction an individual has, it does not permit them to violate the law and obstruct the access of those who are seeking a medical procedure they don’t agree with,” he said at a press conference after his speech. “They are going to have to succeed with persuasion.”