ANAHEIM : Council to Revamp Firearms Measure

Local gun dealers selling concealable firearms won a victory when the City Council voted to revamp an ordinance that would have required the dealers to register with the police and pay a $200 annual fee.

The council voted 3 to 2 to propose an altered ordinance that would require dealers to register with the city treasurer rather than the Police Department. Dealers would not have to pay a licensing fee. In addition, the new plan would require review of the ordinance after one year.

The decision Tuesday night came more than a month after the measure was first introduced and met with impassioned public testimony from local gun dealers and owners. About 10 foes of the original measure spoke against it Tuesday night.

“This ordinance is designed to solve a non-problem,” said T.J. Johnston, chairman of Gun Owners React Committee. “I feel that this is a very dangerous precedent.”

Business people selling concealable firearms argued that state and federal regulations already require similar registration, and that the $200 annual fee was too expensive for smaller businesses.

The council decision follows the state attorney general’s recommendation that local governments establish policies to register pistols, revolvers and other concealable firearms.

Anaheim now joins the Orange County sheriff and the cities of Cypress and Fountain Valley in developing procedures in response to the attorney general’s opinion.

“These people (gun dealers) are being put between a rock and hard place,” said Mayor Fred Hunter, who proposed the measure. “It’s like a double taxation. We’d be taxing them twice.”

The firearms measure will be discussed by the council at its meeting on Feb. 27, when it will be considered for final passage.