Bill on Assault Weapons Fails to Pass Assembly

State Sen. David A. Roberti’s parting shot at gun rights advocates who have been his longtime bitter enemies fell short Tuesday when a bill to broaden California’s ban on assault-style weapons failed to win Assembly passage.

The bill was defeated 33-39 in the last leg of its long journey through a Legislature heavily lobbied by gun rights groups. It passed the Senate earlier, and had narrowly survived challenges in Assembly committees.

But several Democrats broke party ranks Tuesday and voted against the bill, leaving the ban’s supporters to speculate that the bill’s opponents may have made large campaign contributions.

“When you’ve got to fight against people who have a tremendous amount of money, it raises questions,” said Sandy Cooney, spokesman for Handgun Control Inc.

Although there is a chance that the bill will be granted another vote today, Tuesday’s action represents a disappointing setback for Roberti (D-Van Nuys). It was his last major fight with gun owners and dealers who tried to drive him from office in a fierce recall battle in the spring.

Roberti held onto his seat, but--after exhausting most of his campaign money on that fight--lost his subsequent bid to become the Democratic nominee for state treasurer. Because term limits prevent him from running for his Senate seat again, the gun groups claimed credit for ending his political career.

“When you’re in a battle like this, you can’t figure on a victory every time. It’s combat,” Roberti said after the vote. “Casualties are taken. It’s not fun.”

The bill would have expanded the state’s ban to include so-called “copycat” firearms, those similar to the weapons on the banned list, but with slightly different names or designs. The measure was drafted along the lines of the federal ban on assault-style guns adopted earlier this month. But Roberti’s proposal differed from the federal measure in that it would have required current owners of such weapons to register their firearms.

Opponents of the bill said it would create headaches for law-abiding citizens who owned such guns for sport or protection purposes.

Arguing against the bill, Assemblyman Trice Harvey (R-Bakersfield) said its supporters would do better to target criminals, not guns.

“If you think something like this will change a murderer, then you’re nuts,” Harvey said. “This is not going to work. If you would let us execute some of these criminals, something would be done.”

Roberti said he hoped to persuade Democrats who rejected the measure to cast an affirmative vote if the bill comes up again today. Several Democrats from rural districts voted down the bill, in addition to a number of lawmakers representing crime-prone areas of Southern California.