A Respect for Guns, a Need to Stem Mayhem

SACRAMENTO — It was a Christmas many, many years ago that my brother and I were given our first guns--single shot, bolt action .22s. Single shot, our father explained, so we would learn to hit the target on the first shot.

We wouldn’t be wasting ammunition, spraying the field with a lot of mis-aimed, dangerous lead.

On that Christmas, living on a small citrus ranch in rural Ojai, we could walk out behind the garage, set up a pile of logs and fire away--after the stern lecture. Always assume the gun is loaded, don’t load it until you’re ready to shoot , never point it at anything you wouldn’t want to hit and don’t touch the trigger until you want to fire.

And always keep the gun clean. I grew up savoring the smell of gun solvent--almost as much as salmon eggs, fresh cut grass on a baseball diamond and orange blossoms in spring.

So I understand the mystique and the joy of guns and the emotional attachment people have to them. I have owned many and still have that first rifle.

But what I still don’t understand is why anybody needs a clip that holds more than, say, half a dozen rounds. I also never have understood the objection to registering guns or licensing their owners. Is there anybody who still thinks this is how the commies are going to take over the country?

I’ve never had any qualm about shooting a deer as long as the meat is eaten; there probably are more deer killed by motor vehicles in California than by guns. The problem these days is that the opposite is true for people: More Californians are killed by firearms than by vehicles.

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One could go on and on with statistics--about the new homicide records being set in city after city, about the 200 million firearms in circulation across America. . . But other statistics are bracing politicians with courage to fight the gun lobby:

According to a recent ABC News poll, 67% of Americans are demanding stronger handgun legislation and 58% would support a hefty tax on ammunition. A Times Mirror poll found that 57% believe it is more important to control gun ownership than to protect the right to own a gun. A Times poll of Southern Californians in April, 1992, showed that 67% favored stricter state controls on guns.

The three gubernatorial candidates--Gov. Pete Wilson, Treasurer Kathleen Brown and Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi--all have told me they could be amenable to gun owner licensing if it included a test for safe handling of firearms. In fact, Garamendi says he is preparing a licensing proposal.

A son of Sierra foothill ranchers, Garamendi says: “I grew up around guns. I own guns today. I know they’re extraordinarily dangerous. They need to be handled in a responsible way by responsible people.”

I would add one suggestion for any licensing: Require a license not only to own a gun, but to buy ammunition. In the long run, the bullets may be easier to control than the guns.

Next April, a little-known state law goes into effect that could tie smoothly into any licensing program. Sponsored by another gun-owning farm boy, Assemblyman Rusty Areias (D-San Jose), the act will require any buyer of a concealable firearm to obtain a handgun safety certificate. Licensed hunters will be exempt.

“I always found it totally inconsistent that the gun lobby claims ‘guns don’t kill people, people kill people,’ but it didn’t want to require a gun safety course to teach people how to avoid killing people,” Areias says.

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Licensing is aimed at controlling who owns guns. There will be many other proposals to control the guns.

A modest bill lingering on the Assembly floor, by Senate Leader David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys), would limit magazines to 15 rounds for handguns and 10 for rifles.

Treasurer Brown last week advocated banning the possession of all assault weapons and unspecified “high-volume magazines.” The state would buy back the guns with money from her new 15% tax on arms and ammunition.

More drastic legislation will be proposed by Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Brentwood). He would forbid the sale or importation into California of any handgun and require a $200 registration fee for each handgun already here.

That bill has zero chance of passage now. But such a proposal could find favor someday if the gun lobby doesn’t join the effort to control weapons and the carnage continues to escalate.

The sad truth is that too many kids today do not have fathers to teach them respect for firearms or even life. Too much shooting is done on the street with big-clip semiautomatics, not behind the garage with single shot .22s. And at this rate, a first gun as a Christmas present may one day be only a nostalgic memory of a more civilized era.