Gun Advocates, Critics Reload for Debate : Assembly: Simi councilwoman makes emotional appeal for legislation to allow concealed weapons.

Brandishing the signatures of 3,000 people who believe as she does that carrying a firearm ought to be legal, defiant Simi Valley City Councilwoman Sandi Webb told state lawmakers Tuesday that--lawful or not--she totes a gun to protect herself and her teen-age daughter.

In a deliberate, forceful voice, Webb testified before the Assembly Public Safety Committee in support of a bill to allow more people to legally carry concealed, loaded weapons.

Webb, along with other witnesses, portrayed the so-called “Right to Carry” movement as a women’s issue and guns as the great gender equalizer.

She cited a rape 20 years ago, when an attacker overpowered her, as a personal turning point. It was then, Webb said, that she realized women needed the edge of firepower to even up the odds against male assailants. She went out and bought her first handgun.

“If I could wave a magic wand and magically make all the weapons on the face of the earth disappear, I would still not be safe,” Webb said. “I am not physically capable of defending myself or my daughter” against the force of male attackers, she said.

Such remarks strike Elizabeth Toledo, state coordinator for California’s National Organization for Women, as exploitative, since most violence against women actually occurs in the home, she said.

“To market this bill as something that is going to help stop violence is a myth the NRA is perpetuating nationwide,” Toledo said. “It’s just another marketing strategy--along with these very small, cute, pink handguns that they try to sell.”

Webb joined three other outspoken women in a lineup of witnesses recruited by state Assemblyman William J. (Pete) Knight (R-Palmdale) to promote his bill.

Two of the others--Rebecca John of Colorado and Suzanna Gratia of Texas--have gained national prominence as crime victims while testifying in state after state in pursuit of more liberalized gun-carrying laws. The third, Elodie McKee of Burbank, is a licensed firearms instructor who is spearheading a “grass-roots” group of women backing gun rights. All four have survived violent attacks.

Knight’s bill, supported by the National Rifle Assn. and Gun Owners of California Inc., would require police chiefs and sheriffs to issue as many concealed weapons permits as there are qualified applicants.

*

To qualify under the bill, one need be 21 or older, have no record of felony convictions, be able to show mental competency and complete firearms safety training.

As of Tuesday night, committee members had yet to cast final votes on whether to allow the bill to proceed to the floor of the Assembly. Observers predicted a possible stalemate, with committee membership evenly split between Democratic opponents and Republican supporters. But Knight’s staff was not optimistic that it would pass, saying the assemblyman may have to wait until next year to bring it up again.

Tuesday was not the first time that Webb publicly disclosed her practice of illegally tucking a loaded pistol into her purse for protection whenever she drives her 14-year-old daughter, Aubri, to Los Angeles for acting auditions.

It was the first time, however, that she had made such an admission while addressing a panel of state legislators whose authority includes the law she is flouting.

Former Simi Valley Police Chief Paul Miller, now a member of the City Council along with Webb, said that he saw no problem with her testimony but that he questions Webb’s apparent disregard for regulations against carrying concealed weapons.

“I think every public official should agree to abide by the law,” Miller said in an interview. “This is a nation of laws and when we don’t voluntarily obey them, that does set a bad example.”

In response, Webb curtly replied: “I swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the state of California. I feel I am. Second Amendment, Article One, Section One, California Constitution.”

Current law gives police chiefs or sheriffs complete discretion over issuing permits, a process that often results, Knight says, in a discriminatory system that favors a privileged few but leaves minorities and women out in the cold.

This affects women the most, said John, because of their smaller physical stature.

“Women are physically disadvantaged to men,” John said. “They are most often attacked by men. And when all people across the board are told they cannot carry (weapons), it is women who are hurt the most.”

Speaking in opposition to the bill were representatives from the California Police Officers Assn., the California Police Chiefs Assn., the California State Sheriffs Assn., the Assn. for Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriffs, and a spokeswoman for Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block.

Spokesmen for the law enforcement organizations said they fear more guns on the streets will mean more crime, higher injury rates and more perilous situations for officers and deputies.

*

“Nothing is going to be accomplished by having a bunch of people out there carrying around concealed weapons,” said Al Cooper of the California State Sheriffs Assn. Cooper said his group estimates that about 650,000 people--most of them in urban areas--would successfully seek permits if the laws were loosened up.

Knight said the experience of 20 other states that have passed such laws shows that maybe 2% of the population will pursue gun permits. He modeled his bill after a high-profile 1987 Florida law that inspired the NRA to seek its passage elsewhere.

Knight tried to assure committee members that the bill, if it became law, would not usher in a new era of vigilantism. “We do not suspect that shootouts will occur in California,” he said.