State Panel OKs $1.5 Million for Metal Detectors at L.A. Schools

An Assembly committee Wednesday approved a bill to allocate $1.5 million in federal funds to pay for metal detectors on Los Angeles junior high and high school campuses.

A 12-3 vote sent the measure, sponsored by Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), from the Education Committee to the Ways and Means Committee for more discussion.

The legislation was introduced by Katz, who is running for mayor in Los Angeles, in the wake of the recent fatal shootings of two students on Los Angeles Unified School District campuses within a 33-day period.

Elvira Garay, student body president at Reseda High School, where one of the fatal shootings occurred, told the committee: “Students are traumatized and don’t want to come to school. When they go to school, they do not want to get shot. Students must feel safe and not be scared. We need metal detectors on campus.”

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) presented the bill for Katz, who reportedly was on the campaign trail.

Brown said there were 700 reports of students carrying weapons onto Los Angeles Unified School District campuses in the last year, including 209 guns.

“This is a very modest but needed step,” Brown said. No one spoke in opposition.

Brown said the federal funds were originally intended for anti-drug abuse and anti-gang programs in California schools. The bill would divert the money to buy metal detectors for Los Angeles unified schools.

In the past, Katz opposed gun control and was endorsed by the National Rifle Assn. in 1986 during his toughest Assembly reelection campaign.

However, he recently has supported what he calls “reasonable controls,” such as a 15-day waiting period for gun purchases and a ban on assault weapons.

NRA Lobbyist Brian A. Judy said the group has given Katz less than $1,000 in campaign contributions since the mid-1980s and has made no contributions to him for the mayor’s race.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, the local head of the American Civil Liberties Union cautioned that, when it comes to using metal detectors in schools, individual civil rights need to be taken into consideration.

“The problem of metal detectors requires a very delicate balancing of constitutional issues,” Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California, said at a news conference.

Ripston called for the Los Angeles school board to establish guidelines so that use of the detectors is “non-discriminatory.” ACLU observers sent to Belmont and Jordan high schools found disparities in how the random checks were being carried out, she said.

Also Wednesday, representatives for state and local lawmakers and government agencies met at Fairfax High School--where a student was shot to death in January--and agreed on wide-ranging recommendations designed to curb violence among youths.

Proposals included teaching young people about the dangers of weapons, seeking a decrease in television and film violence, beefing up campus security, taxing gun sales to raise money for weapons education, doing a better job of coordinating youth services and public agency programs, and coaching parents on nonviolent ways to discipline children.

However, participants in the Emergency Task Force on Youth Violence acknowledged that some of the proposals are largely symbolic because of a lack of funding and political support.

Times staff writers Penelope McMillan and Henry Chu contributed to this story.