CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : 13,470 Apply for Gun Registration

The state Department of Justice said Thursday that owners of about 13,470 semiautomatic assault guns applied to register their weapons during a special amnesty period set aside to allow more time for owners to come forward. The latest sign-ups are expected to bring the total number of assault weapons officially recorded to about 66,303 of the several hundred thousand believed to be privately owned in California. The Jan. 1-March 31 second-chance registration, directed by Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren and costing about $330,000 for publicity, was aimed at owners of the restricted weapons who failed to record them by the first deadline, Jan. 1, 1991. The 1989 Legislature banned sale and possession of nearly 60 types of assault guns after the slaying of five schoolchildren in Stockton by a man firing an AK-47 assault rifle. But the law allowed owners of legally acquired assault weapons to register them, an offer widely ignored the first time around.