L.A. to End Ban on Concealed Weapon Permits : Law enforcement: The tentative agreement settles a lawsuit brought by gun advocates. It transfers to the police chief decisions on who can carry firearms.

The city of Los Angeles, as part of a tentative out-of-court settlement with gun advocates, has agreed to abandon its decades-old policy of refusing to provide private citizens with permits to carry concealed weapons.

During the past 20 years, the Police Commission had issued only one concealed weapon permit--given last year to Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams because he had not yet been certified as a California peace officer.

The tentative settlement transfers the power to issue such permits from the Police Commission to Williams and specifically calls for issuance of weapons licenses to 16 people involved in the litigation, said Assistant City Atty. Byron Boeckman.

“It’s probably the most significant victory in California in five years,” said J. Neil Schulman, spokesman for the pro-gun California Organization for Public Safety, who said his organization would monitor the issuance of permits over the next year to be sure police are obeying the tentative settlement. The settlement would become final only if the litigants are satisfied that enough gun permits are issued, he said.

The suit, filed last year, contended that in refusing to even consider issuing concealed weapon permits, the Police Commission was violating state law requiring it to exercise its discretionary authority.

Boeckman said six or seven of the permits had already been issued to the litigants and that another had been given to an unnamed assistant district attorney who is involved in gang-related prosecutions.

There are no statewide standards for the issuance of concealed weapon permits, and each law enforcement jurisdiction determines its own policy. The result is a crazy quilt of standards ranging from a Northern California sheriff who gave gun permits to anybody who asked, to the Los Angeles Police Commission, which gave none, to various Los Angeles County jurisdictions that handed out a few to celebrities.

But, for the most part, law enforcement jurisdictions in Los Angeles County have issued concealed weapon permits with great selectivity. Last year, it was estimated that only 300 Los Angeles County residents possessed such permits.

Boeckman said that Williams, in determining whether to approve gun permit applications, will use criteria similar to those used by the county Sheriff’s Department. Those criteria, said Boeckman, require that the applicant face a “clear and present danger” that cannot be handled by the police or other measures and that “such danger would be significantly mitigated by carrying a concealed weapon.”

Schulman said the settlement recognizes the need for concealed weapons by people in what he termed “high-risk professions.” Included in such professions, he said, are attorneys, journalists and people who must carry large amounts of cash.

The original plaintiffs in the lawsuit included journalists, a private investigator, a water filter saleswoman, a nursery operator, a real estate salesman and an investment broker.

Schulman estimated that if Williams properly follows the tentative agreement, about 10,000 permits to carry concealed weapons could be issued to Los Angeles residents within the next two years.

Boeckman, refusing to speculate on how many permits will be issued under the agreement, contended that the danger of violence to Los Angeles residents is exaggerated.

“Whatever you might read, hear, think or believe, you’re probably 20% less likely to be a criminal victim today than you were in 1975, statistically,” he said. “It’s just that there are a heck of a lot more of us.”

As Schulman spoke on the steps of Parker Center, Douglas Ray Hickman, a private security consultant and a litigant in the case, was inside receiving his historic concealed weapon permit.

Asked why he needed to carry a concealed weapon, Hickman said: “Why does anyone need to carry a gun? Self-defense. I do not wish to carry it in (a security guard) uniform.”

Handgun Control Inc., longtime crusader for firearms control legislation, had a measured response to Los Angeles’ new policy.

Heather Morse, West Coast coordinator for the organization, expressed faith in Williams to tightly control such permits but decried the practice of carrying concealed weapons in Los Angeles.

“Does it enhance public safety for a bunch of vigilantes to be out there armed?” she asked rhetorically. “Or does it make it worse?”