Surprise Guest Puts Gun Issue, and Fear, in Focus

In an unguarded moment, City Atty. James Hahn expressed a fear shared by many citizens, that there are too many guns on the streets.

The scene was a meeting room on the 18th floor of City Hall East, where Hahn had called a news conference last Thursday to announce that he had filed misdemeanor charges against the two survivors of that middle-of-the-night confrontation under a freeway bridge in the San Fernando Valley. Hahn charged William Andrew Masters II with carrying a concealed weapon and carrying a loaded firearm in a public place. He also decided to charge David Hillo, one of two graffiti taggers Masters encountered that night, with vandalism.

The other tagger, Cesar Arce, 18, was shot and killed in the Jan. 31 incident, in which--as Masters told it--the two threatened him after he wrote down the license plate number of their car.

The city attorney was patiently answering reporters’ questions when Masters suddenly appeared at the room’s door. Looking momentarily stunned, Hahn was overheard saying to no one in particular: “How did he get in here? Did anyone check to see if he was carrying a gun?”

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I have that fear, too. Especially now since the Republican majority in Congress wants to overturn gun control legislation that was recently passed and signed into law by President Clinton. Especially now since two Republican lawmakers in Sacramento have introduced legislation that would make it easier for anyone to obtain a permit for a concealed weapon in California.

Especially now since many Angelenos think Masters was a hero to shoot the two. “Blow the punks away,” more than one caller has told me. “Forget the cops. Just shoot them.”

I said recently that ordinary unarmed citizens can--with a little common sense--fight the spread of graffiti. Masters was right to be concerned about the vandalism, but chose the absolutely wrong way to fight back.

Common sense went out the window in this racially tinged case. Masters, who is white, has been called a racist vigilante--which he denies--by Latino activists. On the other hand, Hillo denied that he and Arce were Mexican skinheads or gang members, an assumption that Masters apparently made in defending himself.

Masters is among those who think the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which refers to the people’s right to “keep and bear arms,” means that citizens have unlimited rights to carry weapons--even though no gun control law has ever been overturned in the federal courts on constitutional grounds.

The shooting of Arce and Hillo has afforded Masters the opportunity to preach that everybody ought to be armed. And that, to me, is a frightening thought.

When he showed up at Hahn’s news conference, I could understand Hahn’s fear because suddenly, I felt it, too.

Away from Hahn and the conference room, Masters, standing next to the 18th-floor elevators, assured reporters he wasn’t carrying a gun. “That would be very foolish of me,” he said.

But he suggested he’d carry a gun just about everywhere else “until all the criminals are locked in jail and there is no longer a threat to my life or any other citizen’s life.”

“I will continue to perform my duties as a citizen,” he said.

He was asked if he expected to be charged again with carrying a concealed weapon if caught. He replied, “. . . Jeez, I don’t know. That depends on what happens with this case and when, if ever, I’m caught again, or however this works out.”

He then went back to his favorite refrain, criticizing any law that regulates the possession of firearms.

“Well, you know, I am not the first citizen to be arrested for this,” he told reporters. “The (U.S.) Supreme Court has dealt with the issue four times in the past. . . . The state of California is clearly in the wrong here.”

He cited an 1885 Supreme Court decision as the basis for his contention.

At another point, he said, “This is your duty (to bear arms). It is not a choice, this is your duty. Your duty is to carry a firearm and to protect the public security. This is your duty as a citizen of the United States and as a citizen of this state. You are the reserve militia.”

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Some might say Masters wouldn’t have pulled out his .380 semiautomatic pistol if he hadn’t felt threatened by the two taggers. I prefer to see it the other way--I don’t want to feel threatened every time I am near a stranger, fearful that he might be toting a gun.

That’s the thought that struck a few of us, not just Hahn, at the news conference.