Firing of Banned Guns Has Target

By day, he is stage supervisor for the popular television soap opera “General Hospital.”

By night, he heads an Anaheim-based gun rights group and is the organizer of a “banned firearms shoot” today in which anybody who pays a $15 registration fee can fire military-style assault weapons that will soon be illegal in California.

Surprised? Don’t be, says T.J. Johnston, chairman of the Gun Owners REACT Committee, because there are plenty of people around who don’t fit the stereotype of the typical gun owner.

Instead, the 1,000 members of Johnston’s 10-month-old group are active in lobbying the state Legislature and organizing events such as the “banned firearms shoot” at the West End Gun Club in San Bernardino County.

Johnston, a firearms instructor licensed by the National Rifle Assn., said the event is intended to educate people about weapons safety and what he calls the imperiled rights of gun owners.

So sit through a half-hour firearms safety class, step up to the table and choose your assault rifle, Johnston urges, because “this is your last chance to try these puppies out” before a ban on private ownership of semiautomatic weapons in California takes effect Jan. 1.

Capt. Ron Parret of the San Bernardino sheriff’s station in Fontana said the firearms shoot is legal and no special patrols of the event are planned.

“I think that overall education is the most important factor,” Parret said. But he questioned the thoroughness of a half-hour firearms class.

“If you’ve never had any firearms training whatsoever, it takes a lot longer than that,” Parret said.

To Johnston, the point of the weapons shoot is not to make people into marksmen. It is to demystify firearms, to take the assault weapons from the television screen into the hands of people who have never touched a gun.

“We want to educate the world that firearms are in no way a threat in the hands of responsible citizens,” Johnston said.

The trouble, as Johnston concedes, is that weapons sometimes are acquired by those such as Patrick Purdy, who used an AK-47 assault rifle to gun down five children in a Stockton schoolyard before killing himself.

Johnston attributes the Stockton killings to “insanity,” and not firearms rights.

The California Legislature responded to the incident by passing a bill banning the private ownership of assault rifles. Gov. George Deukmejian signed the bill in May, saying the measure would help police officers in their fight against armed drug traffickers and gang members.

Such actions politicized gun owners such as Johnston, spurring them to promote their cause through high-profile events.

One of the committee’s first projects was to mobilize against a proposed Westminster ordinance to outlaw the sale of semiautomatic weapons. The City Council tabled the ordinance after more than 100 people who opposed the ordinance showed up at a city meeting.

Johnston’s group also has circulated petitions seeking a statewide ballot initiative that would amend the state’s Constitution to make it a right of people to keep and bear arms.

Committee members also paid $1,000 to have a plane fly over Anaheim Stadium during this summer’s All-Star game, trailing a banner reading: “The Chinese Don’t Have a Second Amendment.” That amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides for the right to keep and bear arms.

And for today’s weapons shoot, the committee chose to use a military-style assault rifle, probably the most controversial firearm on the market today.

“Abrasive?” Johnston asked, “Yes, that’s the way gun owners are. The NRA has a reputation for being bullheaded. We are gun owners and we are proud to say we are gun owners.”

The Gun Owners REACT Committee has aligned itself with state Sen. Edward R. Royce (R-Anaheim), whom Johnston calls “our guide.” Royce did not return several calls seeking comment, but staff aide Richard Mersereau confirmed that Royce had met with that group and supported its efforts to lift firearm restrictions.

Johnston said the committee plans to lobby lawmakers in hopes of defeating 73 bills that have been introduced in this legislative session to restrict firearms ownership, including imposing a waiting period for the purchase of all guns.