Approval of Gun Club Would Be Wrong Message, Councilman Says : Inglewood: Curren Price says he is sick of violence and intends to vote against proposed zoning change for firing range.

Saying he is sickened by gun violence, an Inglewood councilman has announced his opposition to a proposed firing range and gun club in the city.

“(If) it could be any place else, fine,” Councilman Curren D. Price Jr. said this week. “I’m just not in favor of encouraging this kind of activity in our community.”

Price said he will vote Tuesday against a proposed zoning change designed to allow businessman Sam Kash to build a firing range and gun club next to his Jet Car Wash on Manchester Boulevard west of the San Diego Freeway. The zoning code now prohibits firing ranges or gun clubs anywhere in the city.

Citing figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Price said: “Gun violence has a disproportionate impact on minority communities. Homicide is the leading cause of death for black males ages 15 to 24, and firearms are involved in 78% of these deaths.”

Price said approving the club would send the wrong message to residents, who have growing fears about widespread gun ownership in general.

“Even among gun owners,” he said, “there’s very strong opinion that there needs to be controls. Some of us even feel they should just be banned outright.” Price does not own a gun.

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From January to October, overall crime in Inglewood dropped 11% from the same period last year, while homicides increased from 31 to 38, according to the Police Department. Of the 38 homicides, 34 were by gun.

Price has been the only one of the five City Council members to speak publicly against the firing range and gun club plan. Kash said Mayor Edward Vincent supports the plan, but the mayor could not be reached for comment.

Councilwoman Judith L. Dunlap said in an interview that she strongly objects to Kash’s proposal, but declined to comment further.

Two other council members, Garland Hardeman and Jose Fernandez, declined to say how they plan to vote on Tuesday, although both maintain that there should be no relationship between crime rates in Inglewood and the prospect of a gun club.

“My point is that crime exists in all cities, regardless of the size of the city,” said Hardeman, a former Los Angeles police officer, “and it isn’t increased or decreased by the existence of a gun club.”

Both councilmen questioned why people would worry about Inglewood having a firing range and gun club when it seems the issue is not raised about clubs in predominantly white communities such as Torrance and Beverly Hills.

Hardeman said he is for strict gun control and wants the illegal possession of weapons to be made a felony instead of a misdemeanor.

Fernandez also described himself as a gun control advocate and said he practices target shooting at area gun clubs.

Nevertheless, both said they would listen to their constituents before deciding their position on Kash’s plan.

Kash believes his proposed club would provide a safe place to fire weapons. “If you ask me, I would be against guns, too, but it’s not going to happen,” he said. “Guns will always be there. If people own guns, why not have a place where they can go.”

Businessman Frank Denkins, who spoke against Kash’s plan at a City Council meeting Tuesday, said the club would have negative overtones for Inglewood. “It’s like having another liquor store in our community,” Denkins said.

The spread of gun ownership, he said, should be actively discouraged.

“There are as many guns as there are people in this country today,” Denkins said. “How are we going to start slowing up the process of putting guns out there?”