Holiday Ban on Ammo Sales Hits Far Beyond L.A. : Guns: Many enthusiasts in the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys think Los Angeles’ weeklong moratorium applies to the county, or even statewide, a survey finds.

The Los Angeles ban on ammunition sales within the city during the week before the Fourth of July is apparently causing confusion among gun enthusiasts, some of whom believe it applies throughout the county or even statewide.

A weekend survey of gun merchants and their customers in the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys, two areas unaffected by the sales ban, found that urban bullet buyers are not stampeding north of the city limits. Uncertainty over how widely the ban is in force may have limited such buying trips.

This is the first year for the ban, which also applies to New Year’s Eve. It was enacted by the Los Angeles City Council in May in an attempt to curb the tradition of firing guns into the air during maniacal celebrating, which resulted in eight injuries last New Year’s Eve. The city of San Fernando also bans ammunition sales during the week preceding the Fourth of July.

A crackdown on such gunfire, which on the two holidays sounds like a raging gun battle in parts of the city, resulted in 70 arrests and 134 guns being seized on Dec. 31.

Jack McEntire, manager of The Old Gun Shop in Newhall, said sales were unusually slow Saturday, possibly discouraged by a counter sign that said ammunition would not be sold during the week before the holiday. McEntire said he dutifully stopped selling bullets Wednesday after he was told by the Los Angeles County sheriff’s station in Santa Clarita that the ban applied to his area.

“It’s cut into our business,” he said. “We normally sell $300 or $400 worth of ammunition a day.”

Lt. Tim Peters of the Santa Clarita sheriff’s station said he was not aware of any confusion about the ban among deputies or callers to the station.

McEntire was philosophical about the apparent mix-up. His ammunition sales would have been affected anyway by widespread confusion among customers, he said.

“Most people think it’s in effect out here,” he said.

One of McEntire’s few customers Saturday, rifle enthusiast Mike Tubbs of Santa Clarita, said he thought the ban was in effect statewide. “I figured it applied everywhere in California,” he said.

The owner of Blue Star Arms in Newhall, who identified himself only as Bob, said, “there’s a lot of confusion” about the ban. “We’ve had a lot of phone calls.”

But, he said, business has not suffered as a result and he has not noticed any increase in ammunition sales to an influx of Los Angeles residents.

Gun shop owners’ opinions of the ban and its effectiveness were unanimous: They don’t like it and they don’t think it will reduce holiday mayhem. They predicted that people intent on celebrating the holiday with gunfire already have ammunition or will leave Los Angeles to buy it. “I know they have a serious problem down there, but I don’t think this is going to solve anything,” said Joe Lutz of Top Gun Firearms in Lancaster.