Fresno Rejects Wide-Open Gun Permit Plan : Firearms: The policy would have let most residents carry concealed weapons. Opponents feared that the crime-ridden city would get a Wild West image.

A proposal to give nearly every resident the right to carry a concealed weapon on the streets of this crime-ridden city has been narrowly rejected by elected officials wanting to avoid a Wild West image for Fresno.

After four hours of spirited public debate late into Tuesday night, the City Council voted 4 to 3 to defeat a permissive gun ordinance that was opposed by the police chief and virtually every civic organization responsible for polishing Fresno’s tarnished image.

What was passed in its place was a more restrictive ordinance that basically mirrors current policy. The police chief will retain sole discretion to grant concealed-gun permits, only to law-abiding citizens who demonstrate a compelling need.

The new ordinance will result in more permits, but the number will not be large, Police Chief Ed Winchester said. He predicted that the powerful gun lobby will not be satisfied and that the entire issue will rear its head again soon.

“We haven’t heard the end of this,” he said. “The gun people will only get more upset when they realize that the new ordinance, while a bit more lenient, isn’t going to change things a whole lot.”

A day after the controversial vote, no one at City Hall, it seemed, could quite agree on the new law’s intent. Mayor Jim Patterson, disputing the chief’s interpretation, called it a compromise between citizens demanding a near-blanket right to carry guns and those demanding the status quo.

“My understanding is that it’s a substantial loosening of the present policy,” he said.

Councilman Bob Lung, the council’s leading gun proponent, went even further, proclaiming a victory for the 2nd Amendment. “It’s going to greatly increase the number of concealed-weapons permits,” he said.

Both men indicated that the City Council would revisit the issue if the new ordinance did not result in an appreciable increase in permits.

The initial proposal announced two weeks ago essentially would have allowed everyone but criminals and crackpots to pack guns. A citizen denied a permit for any reason would have been able to appeal the decision to the City Council.

The proposal was the fancy of Lung, a big bear of a man criticized by some for a loose-cannon approach to government. Lung argued that the Fresno Police Department had not issued a single permit in six years, despite 92 applications.

What surprised many here is that Patterson, an evangelical Christian radio broadcaster whose efforts at conciliation are often frustrated by Lung, threw in his support. Political insiders surmised that both men, coveting higher office, wanted to curry favor with the gun lobby.

In announcing his backing 11 days ago, Patterson said the ordinance would place Fresno “in a leadership position in California.” He was apparently referring to the fact that it would have stamped the city as the first in California to make it easier for law-abiding citizens to obtain concealed-weapon permits.

But almost as soon as he signed on, Patterson began trying to find a graceful way out of the ordinance, sources said. He did not anticipate the negative statewide media reports and critical editorials portraying Fresno as a city besieged by crime and grasping at straws.

The local chamber of commerce, normally a strong supporter of the mayor, lobbied to defeat the measure. “This would only add to our image as a place of fog and crime,” said Stebbins Dean, the chamber’s executive director. “There are a lot better things to spend our time on.”

Dean and others credited the police chief and City Atty. James Lough with showing the political courage to oppose the gun measure publicly. Lough argued that it violated state law and the City Charter by taking discretion away from the police chief.

When the city attorney announced his opposition, some council members talked openly about replacing his position with a private attorney. In the end, though, it was Lough’s compromise ordinance that the council approved Tuesday night.