The Yearning for Less Violence : Do Californians really want more people packing more guns?

With state lawmakers still smarting from last month’s bruising partisan battle for the Assembly speakership, Republicans and Democrats again seem to be going in starkly different directions. The issue is guns, and on this issue the state can afford neither partisanship nor ambiguity. Assemblyman William J. (Pete) Knight (R-Palmdale) and state Sen. Dick Monteith (R-Modesto) want to change the law so that more people can legally carry concealed weapons. That’s certainly non-ambiguous, but it’s also wrong and dangerous. The right and rational response to curbing gun violence is contained in a six-bill package, introduced by Assemblyman Louis Caldera (D-Los Angeles), to restrict firearm possession.

Some of the Caldera measures are similar to bills that failed last year. Those failures reflect the reckless refusal on the part of state lawmakers--a number of Republicans and a few Democrats--to acknowledge the increasing peril that California’s shockingly minimal gun regulations pose to everyone. How else can legislators explain their rejection last year of a bill that would have raised the penalty for illegally carrying a concealed gun, now a misdemeanor, to that which already prevails for carrying a concealed knife, a felony?

How can lawmakers still justify the largely unrestricted sale in California of the cheap, easily concealable handguns that are the weapon of choice among murderers, robbers and carjackers? Federal law already prohibits the importation of these “Saturday night specials,” but gun manufacturers that literally ring Los Angeles turn out thousands of these weapons daily. Does our legislators’ unwillingness to follow Maryland’s lead in outlawing the sale of such guns spring from a misplaced economic boosterism on behalf of this home-grown industry?

Alas, passage of Caldera’s package of reasonable bills will be harder this year than last. The Legislature is now closely divided along party lines and was bitterly polarized before the tumultuous session even began. But the deep yearning of all Californians for an end to the violence that always accompanies the proliferation of guns is obvious. It’s also nonpartisan.