Gun Buyers to Supply Photos, Fingerprints : Weapons: Alameda County passes measure to strengthen background checks needed to purchase firearms. NRA and ACLU object to the legislation.

In a new effort to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, violence-plagued Alameda County will require anyone who buys a gun to be fingerprinted and photographed by the county sheriff’s office.

The law, apparently the first such measure in the nation, would substantially strengthen the background check conducted of prospective rifle, shotgun and handgun purchasers during a 15-day waiting period already mandated by the state of California.

“We hope it will slow down the legal sales of guns to people who are using them in the commission of crimes,” said Alameda County Supervisor Don Perata, the chief sponsor of the ordinance. “It is a better measure of safety for a community that is rapidly coming under siege.”

Prompted by a surge of violence and murder in Oakland, the Board of Supervisors approved the measure unanimously Tuesday. When it takes effect Nov. 1, the law would apply only to gun stores in unincorporated areas, but Perata said he will push to have the law adopted in all 14 cities in the county.

The measure was immediately assailed by the National Rifle Assn. as imposing an unfair burden on gun owners. In addition, the American Civil Liberties Union questioned whether information collected on gun buyers would be used improperly by authorities.

The NRA, a longtime foe of gun control laws, pledged to go to court to scuttle the law on the basis of a provision of state law that restricts local jurisdictions in enacting gun control measures.

“It’s a typical misdirected proposal that is only going to impact law-abiding citizens,” said Brian Judy, a lobbyist for the NRA in Sacramento. “It’s one more bureaucratic hoop they have to jump through before they get a firearm.”

Oakland, the largest city in Alameda County, is on track to set a homicide record this year. So far, 144 people have been murdered in the city, compared to 114 at this time last year. The city ended last year with 165 murders.

Perata cited a study showing that of 312 violent crimes committed in Oakland, the firearms involved were purchased legally in California in 133 cases, including 40 in Oakland and the nearby city of San Leandro. He argued that criminals have an easy time legally acquiring guns simply by showing a phony driver’s license.

“The fallacy that has been promoted that gangsters and dope dealers buy guns in dark alleys or break into warehouses is untrue,” Perata said. “It is so easy, they are able to go into a gun store, plunk down the cash and buy a gun.”

Perata, a former schoolteacher, said he was required to get his fingerprints taken in order to teach. Cosmetologists, doctors, pawnbrokers and lawyers are among others who also must submit to fingerprinting to practice their professions.

He likened the requirements to getting a driver’s license and said it will impose comparatively little burden on gun buyers, who will be required to go to the sheriff’s office for fingerprints and a photograph and pay a fee estimated at $25 to $30.

Perata acknowledged that the identification law will be somewhat symbolic at first. Only four of the county’s 13 gun stores are in the affected unincorporated areas. But he said the ordinance would be a first step in strengthening laws designed to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

“We think this is unprecedented,” Perata said. “We know it’s never been done in California and we doubt that it’s been tried anywhere else in the country.”