A Neighborhood That’s Armed--and Ready : Weapons: DeForest Park residents learn how to use guns to help protect themselves and their property.

On a recent sunny Saturday, Frank Thrasher joined about 10 of his neighbors and friends in an outdoor class that began with a few pointers: If you’re going to shoot at someone, aim at the center of the body, tell police as little as possible, get an attorney and expect a lawsuit.

In Thrasher’s neighborhood, the working-class homes of the DeForest Park area in North Long Beach, more than 100 residents have heard these tips over the last year. Here, among the placid, tree-lined streets, residents have not only armed themselves but have banded together to learn how to shoot.

At their monthly neighborhood meetings, they discuss gun safety, crime statistics and other safety measures such as deadbolts and window locks. And they sign up for gun classes.

“I made up my mind after the riots that I needed something to protect my property,” said Thrasher, 67, a Long Beach resident since 1963 who bought his first weapon, a shotgun, last year.

Thrasher and his neighbors were taught by Dennis Kennedy at the Huntington Beach Police Officers Assn. Shooting Range.

“I believe that law-abiding citizens should take every measure to protect themselves and their families: learning CPR and first aid, having water and food stored,” Kennedy told the group. Owning a gun, he said “is just another step.”

The DeForest Park movement was spearheaded by Jerry Shultz, the neighborhood association president and a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy.

“After the riots, people kept asking me at the monthly meetings and in phone calls about guns and how they could be better prepared, so I organized the classes,” Shultz said.

For many, particularly women, it was their first time dealing with a weapon. Others dusted off guns they had put away long ago.

“We had a lot of people who had guns but never shot them. That’s dangerous,” Shultz said. If an emergency arises, he said, a gun owner should know the weapon and be comfortable using it.

The Long Beach Police Department doesn’t discourage the classes, spokeswoman Karen Kerr said. Police are always concerned when gun sales increase. But, she said, “We always advise people that if they are going to buy a gun, they should learn how to use them, care for them, clean them.”

The neighbors were taught not only to shoot, but when not to shoot. Kennedy, who owns the Cypress-based American Academy of Public Safety, cautioned the students that they can fire a weapon only when an intruder shows intent to do them bodily harm.

“At no time are you legally allowed to use force to defend property, not your TV, not your sofa, not your favorite hunting dog,” Kennedy said. “Just because they’re in your house doesn’t allow you to use deadly force.”

Kennedy also advised the gun owners not to fire warning shots--it gives the intruder time to attack. And he told them to get an attorney before they talk to police about a shooting.

“You need to tell them as little as possible: ‘He tried to kill my daughter and I had to protect her,’ ” Kennedy said. “Politely tell the officer: ‘I’m very upset and need to talk with an attorney.’ ”

Anyone who shoots another person should be prepared to be taken to jail. And be prepared to be sued. “Count on it,” he said.

He advised them to avoid a fight if possible. Don’t be a hero, Kennedy emphasized.

“I bet if you check your genealogy records, John Wayne is not your daddy and his genes don’t run in your blood.”

Barbara Wilson, who moved to the DeForest neighborhood in 1978, said she has owned guns and shot them for years, but always for fun. Today, however, the 46-year-old legal secretary said she also looks to them for protection.

During the riots last year, businesses along nearby Atlantic Avenue were looted and torched. Wilson’s longtime partner, Lawrence I. Wolfley, loaded an M-1 rifle, propped it next to their front door and put a .45-caliber pistol on the kitchen table. When they went to bed at night, he took the weapons into the bedroom.

“My next-door-neighbor came and asked me to sell him a weapon,” said Wolfley, a retired industrial contractor who has a license to sell arms. “But I couldn’t because there’s a 15-day waiting period to sell a gun. Since then, he’s bought a gun and taken the class.”

The riots that started in Los Angeles and spilled into Long Beach and Compton sparked a record number of firearms sales in the state. In May, 1992, just a month after the civil disturbance, the California Department of Justice reported a 64% increase in gun sales in Los Angeles County, compared to May, 1991. For all of 1992, dealers in California recorded sales of 559,608 handguns, shotguns and rifles, a 14% increase over the previous year. So far this year, 410,250 have been sold.

When a verdict was expected last spring in the federal trial of Los Angeles officers accused of beating Rodney G. King, the DeForest neighborhood was prepared. Residents set up a command post in the park’s recreation center, pulled out maps of the neighborhood and set out with walkie-talkies to patrol the area.

For years, Shultz has organized regular patrols and gone out on late-night graffiti stakeouts.

A few years ago, one of the group’s members occasionally disguised himself as a homeless man and hung out in the alleys, hoping to catch taggers. But the streets have become too dangerous for that now, Shultz said. “Now we monitor in cars and in groups.”

“I want to protect my neighborhood,” Shultz said. “I love my city. I’m not ready to give up on it yet.”

Thrasher, the DeForest area resident who bought a weapon for the first time last year, said he’s never been the victim of a crime in Long Beach but he loads his shotgun every day as the sun sets. His wife, Linda L. Long, is not happy about it.

“I don’t believe in guns. We’re really a divided family on this topic,” said Long, 45. “We have a place in the mountains, and he carries that gun back and forth. He thinks he’s Chuck Connors, the rifleman.”

Thrasher is not bothered by his wife’s opinions. “She’s a pacifist and she thinks no one is going to do her harm,” he said. “If you’re a pacifist, it’s good to have someone there to protect you.”