Registering of 300,000 Assault Guns Begins : Weapons: Tough first-in-nation law controls the manufacture, sale, possession and ownership of high-powered military-style guns.

Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp on Wednesday announced procedures for Californians to register under the state’s highly restrictive new law an estimated 300,000 assault weapons that have been legally acquired.

At the same time, Van de Kamp--a Democratic candidate for governor--warned street gangs and drug traffickers “that we are going to enforce it to the hilt.”

The first-in-the-nation law to strictly control the manufacture, sale, possession and ownership of high-firepower military-style arms was passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. George Deukmejian last spring. It took effect Monday.

The legislation prohibits at least 55 different assault weapons from casual over-the-counter sale in an effort to severely curb the kind of weapon that was fired into a crowded Stockton school playground nearly one year ago by deranged gunman Patrick Purdy. Five children were killed and 29 others and a teacher wounded. Purdy then killed himself.

Penalties for violating the law, enacted over the fierce opposition of gun owners and the National Rifle Assn., range from fines to stiff prison sentences.

Van de Kamp and Assemblyman Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles), co-author of the legislation, told a press conference that the mere fact that the law has been on the books since last May appears to have served as a deterrent to use of assault weapons.

In Los Angeles County, he said, the Sheriff’s Department has seized only two or three assault guns in the last seven months, compared to 188 confiscated in 1988. He said police in Oakland confiscated 50 such guns during the past four months, compared to 107 in the first three months of 1989.

While sale of assault weapons is now against the law--except under strictly limited circumstances--thousands of law-abiding Californians still possess them--apparently as collectors, for self-protection or target shooting. The new law allows them to keep their guns if they were legally acquired before June 1, 1989, but they must be registered under the state’s first outright gun registration system.

Since 1954, prospective handgun owners have been required to wait for 15 days while the Department of Justice conducts a background check to weed out those who have a criminal past or have been committed to a mental hospital. Hunting rifle and shotgun buyers are not subject to a waiting period.

The new assault gun process directly links the firearm to the owner, along with computerized information, such as the address of where the weapon will be stored.

Under the registration procedure, people who want to keep their assault-type firearms have until next Jan. 1 to register them. Failure to register will result in a $350 fine for the first violation, while subsequent offenses call for prison terms.

Registration forms are available at local police and sheriff’s offices and must be completed under penalty of perjury. Among other things, applicants will be required to give a thumbprint, pay a $20 fee and individually list their weapon’s serial number, make, model, caliber, date of acquisition and from whom it was obtained.

Registration will be denied to people with a criminal background or history of mental illness.

For those who do register, however, the Department of Justice will not provide gun owners with a formal permit that their firearms are registered. Kati Corsaut, a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, suggested that owners carry a letter that will be sent from the department stating that the weapon is registered.

She noted that the computerized registration information will be immediately available to local peace officers if registration becomes an issue with law enforcement authorities.

No one knows how many assault guns are in California. But Corsaut said 275,000 registration forms have been sent to local police and sheriff departments so far. She said that based on NRA testimony last spring, officials believe that there are approximately 300,000 assault guns subject to registration.

Brian Judy, lobbyist for the NRA, conceded that he did not know how many assault guns are in California but said, “I’ll tell you there are two or three times as many as there were a year ago.”

Judy said this was because in the last few weeks before the bill was signed, buyers made a frenzied run on assault weapons, whose prices doubled and tripled literally overnight. Some dealers reported selling more Uzi, AK-47 and AR-15 assault arms in a few days than they had sold in all previous years combined.

A special permit, virtually the same one now required for possession of a machine gun, is now mandated for people who bought an assault gun between June 1, 1989, and Jan. 1 and for those who want to buy such a weapon in the future.

Citizen ownership of machine guns has long been prohibited without a permit. The permits are usually issued only to film and television companies, certain gunsmiths and gun manufacturers who sell to law enforcement agencies.