New Voice for a Silent Majority : Foundation will marshal Californians seeking stronger gun control laws

It is a curious paradox indeed: Public polls taken in California and elsewhere consistently find durable support for stronger handgun control; yet in the last few months the California Legislature has buried one worthy proposal after another that would have achieved just that.

Defeated in January was a bill that would have raised the penalty for carrying a concealed gun to close to that for carrying a concealed knife. This month three other handgun-related bills were rejected. One would have severely restricted possession of handguns. Another would have permitted cities and counties to impose stronger gun restrictions than those the Legislature had passed. On Monday state legislators turned thumbs down on a measure that would have limited most Californians to one handgun purchase a month.

Lawmakers respond to pressure. On the issue of gun control, pressure historically has taken the form of threats to withhold the campaign contributions lavished on candidates by such groups as the National Rifle Assn. and of bellicose demands from some gun owners for continued easy access to firearms.

But now the once out-lobbied gun control movement is gaining clout, with new emphasis on public health and safety. Last year, several women’s organizations, ranging from mainstream professional and religious groups to grass-roots coalitions, came together as Women Against Gun Violence to advocate for tighter gun laws.

And now comes the California Wellness Foundation, a Woodland Hills group focusing on strategies to prevent violence.

Armed with the results of a new poll finding strong and widening support for gun control among Californians, the foundation is launching a media campaign aimed at rallying this heretofore silent majority.

Handguns are now the No. 1 killer of kids in California and easy access to handguns only perpetuates the slaughter, the group notes. Television commercials will drum that point home over the coming year, and, we hope, prompt California voters to lobby loudly for constructive change.