Brown Agrees to Back Ban on Assault Guns

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown abandoned his holdout Monday and endorsed an agreement reached with Gov. George Deukmejian to make California the first state to outlaw military-style combat guns.

The Speaker’s decision to support the agreement appeared to pave the way for enactment by next week of the far-reaching ban on semiautomatic weapons that police say are favored by drug traffickers and other criminals.

Last week, the San Francisco Democrat abruptly put the brakes on the compromise reached with Deukmejian by Senate leader David A. Roberti and Assemblyman Mike Roos, both Los Angeles Democrats. Brown voiced concern that the agreement might weaken penalties for failure to register legally acquired assault firearms.

But Brown said Monday that he had studied the compromise during the weekend and termed himself “absolutely” satisfied that the penalties, although softened somewhat, were still stiff.

“I’ll support the bill,” Brown said.

Starting next Jan. 1, the proposal would make it against the law to import, manufacture, sell, lend, trade, advertise for sale and possess without a special permit about 60 military-style semiautomatic rifles, pistols and shotguns.

Current owners of legally acquired firearms that would appear on the banned list--including AK-47s, Uzis and AR-15s--could keep those weapons if they registered them with the state Department of Justice and obtained a permit. They would have until 1991 to do so.

Under the initial proposal, failure to register would be either a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the discretion of a court judge. However, Deukmejian objected that these criminal penalties were too harsh, particularly upon an otherwise law-abiding gun owner who refused or merely neglected to register the gun.

He demanded that the first offense be punishable as an infraction, such as a traffic ticket.

Under the agreement reached by Deukmejian, Roos and Roberti, the proposed misdemeanor or felony penalties for failure to register a legally acquired assault weapon would be made a “major infraction” carrying a mandatory fine of at least $350 for the first offense. For a second violation, the punishment would be a misdemeanor or a felony.

For those who do not own a lawfully obtained firearm, illegal possession of a banned assault gun would be a felony, punishable by four to eight years in prison.

Deukmejian also opposed a provision of the Roberti-Roos legislation aimed at outlawing facsimile assault weapons not listed in the bill. Subsequently, the two sides negotiated a compromise that would allow a Superior Court judge to outlaw such guns on a case-by-case challenge.

Roberti said that top law enforcement officials and neighborhood organizations--especially those in Los Angeles County, where heavily armed gangs regularly engage in urban warfare--made their support for the compromise known to Brown during the weekend.

Roberti said he believes the infraction penalty for first-time offenders who fail to register their assault guns would be even more effective than facing prosecution on a misdemeanor or felony charge. He noted that many judges probably would be reluctant to impose a criminal punishment for failure to register and probably would levy only a token fine.

The compromise, however, would require the judge to impose the minimum fine of $350 and order that the gun be registered.

The Senate already has passed and sent Roberti’s bill to Deukmejian, who said he would delay signing it until the bill containing the penalty compromise reaches him. The compromise amendments will be carried by Roos.

Plans call for the compromise to be inserted into the Roos bill in a Senate-Assembly conference committee, whose report then will be subject to approval by both houses. The Senate is expected to approve the new version easily, but the legislation could face a tougher fight in the Assembly, which is more vulnerable to lobbying by the National Rifle Assn.