Gun Control With Imagination

Last week’s shootings at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, as well as incidents of gun violence at area schools, underscore the need for local government to do a better job of ensuring public safety.

But as local authorities ponder their options--such as how to beef up security at county medical facilities and what schools most need portable metal detectors--more steps must be taken on the federal level to support localities overwhelmed by a deluge of gun violence and rising body counts.

Congress is now considering a few bills that could help.

The Brady bill: Introduced again after languishing for years, the Brady bill would create a seven-day waiting period between the purchase and delivery of a handgun so authorities could conduct criminal background checks. It’s no magic bullet, but such a law would be the next best thing to an instant background check, a procedure now under development.

Licenses for Gun Dealers: Authored by Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), S 113 would prevent the federal government from issuing a gun dealer’s license unless the applicant could show proof that he or she is conforming with state and/or local permit requirements. That could curb the seemingly unlimited access to federal gun licenses--especially in Los Angeles County, with its more than 3,000 federally licensed gun dealers. It would also force people who typically evade state and local laws to pay their fair share of taxes and fees.

Records and Taxes on Bullets: According to one estimate, there is at least a 200-year supply of firearms in the United States but only a two-to-four-year reserve of bullets. S 119, also by Moynihan, would regulate ammunition sales by requiring importers and manufacturers of ammunition not only to keep records about their products but also to submit an annual report to the federal government on the amount of ammunition produced, the caliber and type. A companion bill would tax 9-millimeter, .25- and .32-caliber bullets--those often used in violent crimes.

These bills are not a cure-all. But taken together with enforcement and public support, they address a social problem that is as real and massive a threat to American health as a disease epidemic.