A Vital Public-Safety Measure

Gov. George Deukmejian now has on his desk AB 497, one of the most important pieces of public- safety legislation passed by the California Legislature in recent years.

The measure, which was introduced by Democratic Assemblyman Lloyd G. Connelly of Sacramento, extends the current 15-day waiting period between the sale of a handgun and its delivery to the sale of rifles and shotguns. The interval not only provides a welcome cooling-off period for unbalanced or distraught people bent on obtaining a gun, but also allows the Department of Justice to ensure that the buyer is not a convicted felon or a person found mentally infirm under law.

Gov. Deukmejian has indicated his willingness to sign such a measure, but some of his aides now are asking AB 497’s sponsors to consider amending the proposal to guarantee that within a few years the background check would be accomplished instantaneously by computer.

This idea already has been explored and rejected by the Legislature. No such technology exists at present; if it did, the cost would be astronomical. Moreover, since the background-checking system now is financed entirely by the $5 fees on gun purchases, those huge increased costs would have to be borne by legitimate sportsmen, gun collectors and shooting enthusiasts. Perhaps worst of all, an instant background check would eliminate the critical, sometimes life-saving, cooling-off period.

A carefully drafted, thoroughly debated bill like AB 497 should not be tinkered with in this eleventh hour. The governor should sign the measure as it is or simply let it become law without his signature, as the state’s Constitution allows.