Comment : ‘The Criminal Weapon Has Gone From .22s to AK47s and Mac-10s’

ROBERT HELTON

Lieutenant, Santa Ana Police Department

Some of the GOP members of the Congress, House Speaker-to-be Newt Gingrich of Georgia included, were opposed to the Brady Bill, which mandates a federal waiting period and background check for handgun purchases, and the federal assault-weapon ban in the crime bill. There is speculation that the GOP majority may try to modify or repeal both measures. An assault-weapon attack in San Francisco last week that killed a police officer and wounded three other people further heightened interest in gun issues. Santa Ana lieutenant ROBERT HELTON spoke with JIM BLAIR about gun restrictions.

Let me speak first to the Brady Bill. It’s important to have a cooling-off period built into any weapons sale. In this business we know what happens all too frequently in the heat of passion. When people are very emotional, having immediate access to a weapon can increase the potential for tragedy. That’s not always the case but it sure can be a contributing factor. We’re lucky in California that there’s already a 15-day waiting period, at least on the purchase of handguns.

As for assault weapons, we have seen too many people lose their lives because, unfortunately, these have become the weapon of choice for a lot of gang members and people really bent on engaging in serious, violent crime.

Our officers are extremely concerned for their safety because of the numbers of these weapons. The criminal’s weapon of choice in the last 25 years has gone from the .22 and the shotgun with birdshot to AK47s, M-16s and Mac-10s--firepower that was never available to the general public during the 1960’s unless obtained through burglaries or at military arsenals. Now you can--at least before the assault weapons ban you could--walk in and take it off the shelf. In some cases with minor modification these weapons can go from semi-automatic to automatic. And we know from our experience there’s a much higher probability you can encounter someone who has one of these weapons concealed. Not only the small pistol-like Mac-10 but even an assault rifle, if the stock is cut off, can be easily concealed.

While I believe in an individual’s right to possess weapons, I think at some point there has to be some kind of control on exactly what level of armament we can tolerate because of the pervasive amount of violence in our (society)--and it’s not diminishing. I don’t own any assault weapons. I don’t see any need for one.

I know that people turn around and say that if you take guns away from law-abiding citizens only the bad guys will have guns. But a lot of those guns get into the hands of the bad guys through the commission of burglaries--if you didn’t have it to steal in the first place the bad guy wouldn’t get it. Obviously, that’s not always true. We know there’s black market out there, individuals who will buy quantities of weapons and sell them at above market price. And I don’t know how we could ever stop that.

But starting someplace, putting some kind of controls and limitations, is a reasonable approach to trying to have some kind of impact.

As the guns are taken off the street and destroyed, hopefully there will be fewer out there.