ELECTIONS 20TH SENATE DISTRICT : NRA Backs Roberti’s Foe Despite Gun Law Stance

Still angry at state Senate leader David A. Roberti for sponsoring a landmark ban on military-style assault guns three years ago, the National Rifle Assn. has endorsed Roberti’s main opponent, Republican Carol Rowen, in their increasingly bitter runoff race.

But in an interview, Rowen--a veteran abortion-rights activist from Tarzana--said she too supports the 1989 law prohibiting sales of assault weapons in California.

Rowen said she did not seek recent endorsements from the NRA and the California Rifle and Pistol Assn., but declined to renounce them.

“They’re not endorsing me, particularly. They just want Roberti out,” she said. “I’m seeking to become a senator. If they feel I’m a good choice, then I will accept their votes.”

Pro-gun groups seeking political revenge against Roberti, one of California’s most powerful Democrats, are expected to play a significant role in the June 2 runoff between him and Rowen, who is making her first run for public office.

Roberti, Rowen and three minor-party candidates are competing to replace former Sen. Alan Robbins in the 20th Senate District, which covers the central-south San Fernando Valley. Robbins resigned last year and agreed to plead guilty to federal corruption charges.

Despite his position as Senate president pro tem, Roberti fell victim to the once-a-decade reapportionment process when his old, Hollywood-based district was eliminated. He decided to attempt to hang onto his job by renting a small house in Van Nuys and running in Robbins’ former district.

But Roberti was forced into a runoff with Rowen after garnering just 34% of the vote in the April 7 primary election--far short of the 50%-plus-one he needed to win outright. Rowen received 21% of the primary vote.

Roberti engendered the lasting animosity of the NRA and other pro-firearms groups for his efforts to pass the assault weapon ban, which he co-authored with former Assemblyman Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles).

The legislation, signed into law by former Gov. George Deukmejian, prohibits the sale of 56 types of rifles and pistols, including Uzis and Mac-10s. It was signed after a drifter with an assault rifle killed five children on a Stockton playground.

Before the April 7 primary, an anti-gun group called Californians Against Corruption mailed 200,000 letters attacking Roberti to 20th District voters, denouncing the lawmaker as the “king of the back-room, special-interest deals.”

In its brochures, the group identified itself as a “grass-roots, nonpartisan group of citizens . . . concerned about corruption in government.” But a spokesman later acknowledged that about 60% of its members are gun owners.

Several days after the primary, 4,000 copies of letters from the NRA and Rifle and Pistol Assn. endorsing Rowen also were mailed to local voters, said Gerald Upholt, a Sacramento-based lobbyist for the Rifle and Pistol Assn., which he said has 35,000 California members.

Upholt said the letters were included in advertising material sent to 20th District residents by the promoter of the annual Great Western Gun Show, being held this weekend in Pomona.

“You can be the one to dump Senator Roberti and end his run amuck political career!” read the Rifle and Pistol Assn. letter.

“This is the opening battle in the conflict to regain our firearms rights by making much needed changes all over the state in the 1992 elections,” it said of the Roberti-Rowen race.

Rowen said that although she backed the assault gun ban, she does not support another provision of the law that requires people who previously owned such weapons to register them with state officials.

“Asking people to register weapons after the fact is totally unenforceable,” she said. “Do I think people need to have assault weapons? Not particularly. If the only purpose of an assault weapon is to kill another human being, no.”

Upholt said Rowen’s position on the ban would not cause the Rifle and Pistol Assn. to drop its endorsement of her.

“She’s not to my understanding a 100% pro-gun vote, but she’s a heck of a lot better than Roberti, in our view,” he said.

He added that if Rowen is elected, his group will work to change her mind about the assault weapon ban.

“We don’t necessarily hold that view against her at this point. But if she gets up here and holds onto that position, that’s a different story,” Upholt said.

Manny Fernandez, a founder of Californians Against Corruption, said that despite Rowen’s backing from the other gun groups, his organization is not endorsing her. His group, he said, is only interested in defeating Roberti.

Fernandez said gun activists will have “a big impact” on the outcome of the race, claiming that a similar campaign against Roos in 1990 “denied him 20,000 to 25,000 votes.”

Roos easily won reelection that year, running up 68% of the vote against Republican Geoffrey Church. He resigned his seat last year to head a nonprofit group formed to study ways to improve the troubled Los Angeles Unified School District.