Williams Backs Tougher Rules on Access to Guns

Police Chief-designate Willie L. Williams said Monday that he wants to crack down on criminals’ access to guns in Los Angeles and that he will explore ways to better regulate the city’s more than 1,000 licensed gun dealers.

Williams also said he believes that local police should conduct criminal-background checks similar to those performed by state officials before a buyer can accept delivery of a firearm in California.

“If you can reduce by any percentage accessibility to firearms in 1992,” he said in an interview, “then by the year 2000, we may begin to see a gradual reduction in the number available on our streets through legal or illegal means. As long as they are manufactured and sold at will, the violence is going to continue.”

The violent use of firearms in Los Angeles is among the most pressing problems facing the city, said Williams, a longtime advocate of gun control.

“Citizens are getting shot every day,” Williams said. “Officers are getting shot at. Because of the fear of firearms, businesses are closing early or moving out altogether. It’s a problem of grave proportion.”

Williams’ comments came in response to a series in The Times last month that examined the proliferation of guns in Los Angeles County and found that more than 8,000 people were treated for gunshot wounds in hospital emergency rooms last year.

The Times also documented instances in which LAPD detectives in busy inner-city divisions often did not bother investigating nonfatal shootings in which there were no obvious leads. Moreover, records showed that LAPD detectives rarely attempt to trace guns recovered in crimes and do little to oversee the more than 1,000 federally licensed firearms dealers.

Williams expressed puzzlement that not all shootings in Los Angeles are investigated aggressively.

“I don’t know why we have that process here, to be very honest,” Williams said. “I can’t say that what they (detectives) are doing is wrong. We have to look at the number of shootings, the number of detectives available to respond to the shootings, and the work hours of the detectives.”

Although hesitant to criticize the way LAPD officers respond to shootings, the former Philadelphia police commissioner pointed out that Philadelphia detectives “by and large” interview every shooting survivor and examine every shooting scene.

Hardly any LAPD detectives work at night or on weekends, when shootings and other violent crimes traditionally increase.

“I don’t know if there will be any revamping in the schedules,” Williams said, “but we’re going to look at the entire scheduling for the whole department.”

Williams expressed concern about why LAPD officers attempt to trace the origins of relatively few guns recovered in crimes, noting that tracing is a valuable crime-fighting tool.

Authorities in some cities say they routinely file trace requests with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in an attempt to identify firearms dealers who supply guns to criminals. ATF records show that in fiscal 1990-1991, the LAPD initiated only 81 trace requests; the local ATF office accounted for another 909.

In Philadelphia, there were more than 2,700 trace requests during the same period.

By routinely tracing guns, Williams noted, officers in Philadelphia recently were able to put out of business two federally licensed Ohio gun dealers who had distributed hundreds of firearms to Philadelphia’s underworld.

Williams said he plans to meet in coming weeks with the head of the local ATF office and other federal law-enforcement agencies to help better coordinate the fight against gun-related violence.

In addition, Williams said he plans to explore ways to beef up the regulation of federally licensed gun dealers in Los Angeles--as well as typical firearms buyers.

Fewer than 150 of the more than 1,000 federally licensed gun dealers have obtained business permits from the city’s Police Commission. Most others are believed to be gun buffs who are not in the business of selling firearms. LAPD detectives say they do not know how many dealers may be providing guns to criminals because the Police Department does not have enough officers to investigate them all.