L.A.’s Ban on Bullet Sales Starts Today : Holidays: One-week prohibition is aimed at deterring random shooting in L.A. on Fourth of July. Gun dealers report no clamor for ammunition, which is readily obtainable in other cities.

There was hardly a rush to buy bullets on Tuesday, the last day before a ban on sales of ammunition throughout Los Angeles went into effect for one week prior to the Fourth of July holiday.

The ban, which also will be in place the week before New Year’s Eve, was unanimously approved by the City Council and Mayor Tom Bradley in May to try to curtail the random firing of guns that has become a deadly tradition on those holidays.

But local gun dealers, gun owners and some police officers scoffed at the ban Tuesday, saying it would have little effect since ammunition can easily be purchased in nearby cities or anywhere else outside city limits.

Tommy Frely, 24, of Los Angeles, was one of the few who bellied up to the sales counter at Western Surplus in South-Central Los Angeles on the eve of the ban.

“If you want them, you can get them someplace else, like Carson, or Culver City,” said Frely, just after buying a box of .22-caliber rounds for use at a target range. “It ain’t going to stop nothin’, man.”

Bob Bower, owner of Bower Wholesale Inc., one of the largest ammunition dealers in the city, agreed, saying, “I don’t think it will be effective--it is too easy to go outside of the city.”

“If a guy wants to buy ammo to shoot up in the air on the Fourth of July, he’ll drive 15 miles to get it,” Bower said. “It’s an inconvenience for customers and a dip in sales for dealers, that’s about it.”

Added Detective John Colella of The Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollenbeck Division: “People who do that sort of thing have access to ammunition. I can’t see how this will help a hell of a lot.”

Council members proposed the ban after police officials made repeated attempts to have gun shop owners voluntarily suspend ammunition sales before the holidays.

City Councilman Richard Alatorre, who sponsored the ban, said, “if it saves one life or prevents one injury, it’s made a difference.”

“While some people may think this action is unnecessary,” Alatorre said, “I believe that banning ammunition sales will help stop thoughtless people from getting their hands on bullets and shooting wildly without knowing who they hurt.”

LAPD South Bureau Commander Ernest Curtsinger also supported the ban saying, “We had to do something because the problem was out of control in Los Angeles.”

“Anything we do to curb indiscriminate gunfire on the Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve,” Curtsinger said, “is in our collective best interest.”

Last New Year’s Eve, a massive law-enforcement campaign, coupled with threats of felony prosecution, curbed some of the errant bullets. By the time the smoke cleared New Year’s Day, Los Angeles police had arrested 37 people on suspicion of discharging weapons in a reckless manner, a felony. The Sheriff’s Department arrested 31.

Countywide, at least eight people were injured by gunfire, authorities said.

Some residents wondered whether a seven-day ban on ammunition sales is long enough to make a difference.

“Instead of a week, sales should be banned for a month,” said Longford Laird, 40, of Los Angeles, whose car was hit by three bullets that fell from the sky on New Year’s Eve two years ago.

“Other people stock up on toys before Christmas,” Longford said. “In this case, they’re buying Uzi clips and shotgun shells for the Fourth of July.”