Supporters Vow Revival of Concealed Weapon Bill

Supporters of a bill to let more Californians legally carry concealed, loaded guns pledged Wednesday to revive the legislation next year after an Assembly committee stalled the bill.

Assemblyman William J. (Pete) Knight (R-Palmdale) said he will bring the bill up for another vote in January, when many GOP stalwarts believe the Assembly will be dominated by Republicans who traditionally favor loosening gun controls.

Tuesday night’s 4-1 vote to defeat the bill in the Assembly Public Safety Committee at least temporarily halted a movement that has gained momentum nationwide since Florida passed a similar law in 1987.

By casting such measures as anti-crime instead of pro-gun, the National Rifle Assn. and gun owners’ groups have persuaded 20 state legislatures to adopt the laws. In California, the state Rifle and Pistol Assn. has unveiled a new public information campaign with billboards stating: “Society is safer when criminals don’t know who’s armed.”

Knight’s bill, modeled after the Florida law, would have required county sheriffs and police chiefs to grant permits for carrying concealed weapons to anyone who met qualifications set by the legislation.

To qualify, applicants would have to show they have never been convicted of a felony, are mentally sound, at least 21 years old and have completed firearms safety training.

Currently, the issuance of permits is left entirely to an area’s top law enforcement authority’s discretion. Consequently, few permits are issued.

In the city of Los Angeles, for instance, five permits have been granted, even after a lawsuit challenged the system and tried to force the issuance of more permits. Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block has kept permits to less than 400, officials said.

In Ventura County, 245 residents sought and received permission to carry loaded guns, law enforcement records show.

Among those testifying in support of the bill was Simi Valley City Councilwoman Sandi Webb, whose admission that she sometimes carries a loaded pistol in her purse has stirred public debate. Webb told legislators she was speaking not as an elected official but as a woman and a mother who felt she needed protection for herself and her daughter.

In the Senate, a companion bill carried by state Sen. Dick Monteith (R-Modesto) has also been shelved with plans to resurrect the measure in January, Monteith’s staff members said. Chances will be better then that the Senate will also have more Republican members.

In trying to get Knight’s bill passed by the Assembly committee Tuesday night, the lawmaker’s staff members said they had sought backing from a key Democrat, freshman Assemblyman Kevin Murray (D-Los Angeles), to break a partisan stalemate. The committee’s four Democrats opposed the bill while all four Republicans voted for it.

But Murray said Wednesday that while Knight had personally asked him for his support, he had never given the conservative Republican reason for false hope.

“I was not going to be the swing vote,” Murray said. “I never told anybody that I had even considered it.”

Like some other Democrats, Murray said he favors changing the law to make the issuance of permits less arbitrary with more uniform standards. But he said he is against legislation to increase the number of guns on the street.