West Hollywood Considers Banning Sale of Cheap Guns

A growing effort by Southland cities to take the lead on gun control legislation will move ahead next week when the West Hollywood City Council considers a law that would ban the sale of Saturday night specials.

The restrictions on the cheap, smallish handguns would be the first of its kind in the state and--if it survives the expected legal challenges--it could pave the way for similar proposals in other cities, including Los Angeles.

Despairing at the state Legislature’s inability to pass many gun control laws, several Los Angeles County cities in the last year have been moving incrementally to control gun violence. Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and other cities followed Pasadena’s lead in requiring ammunition buyers to fill out registration forms, while Los Angeles and West Hollywood led moves to crack down on federally licensed gun dealers who fail to adhere to local zoning and licensing laws.

West Hollywood’s legal advisers say they believe that local regulations of firearms is an “open question of law.” Its political leaders say they are willing to take on a possible court fight to advance gun controls.

“It makes no sense to have these guns out in public,” said Councilman Paul Koretz, a sponsor of the law. “For the protection of our public safety and with the hope that this moves beyond West Hollywood to other cities, we think this is a very important step.”

Councilwoman Abbe Land, co-sponsor of the legislation, said it comes in response to a “public safety crisis.”

“As an elected official, you take a pledge saying you will protect the public safety and welfare,” Land said. “If the state is not going to take action, then we at the local level must take action.”

As soon as they learned Friday of the proposed ban, gun advocates began slamming it.

“Their proposal is fatuous, vacuous and illegal,” said Steve Helsley, state liaison for the National Rifle Assn. “The city of West Hollywood does not have the legal authority to do what they are doing.”

Helsley predicted that the city would run up huge legal bills when the “silly” proposal is challenged in court. The organization played a key role this year in persuading a state Senate committee to reject a ban on the cheap, small-caliber handguns.

He noted that a more comprehensive 1982 San Francisco law banning the ownership of all handguns was overturned by a state appellate court.

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But West Hollywood officials are hoping that their action will put them in the vanguard of a much larger movement, such as the one that swept the state in 1989 after a gunman opened fire on a Stockton schoolyard, killing several children.

In the aftermath of that tragedy, several cities banned the sale and possession of assault rifles before state lawmakers took up the issue and approved a statewide ban.

“I think it is great they are taking the lead,” said Barrie Becker, executive director of Legal Community Against Violence, a lawyers group that supports local gun control. “They won’t be out there for very long. There are other cities talking about this.”

The West Hollywood City Council on Monday will decide whether to direct City Atty. Mike Jenkins to draft the ordinance covering certain pistols.

Although the definition of Saturday night special remains to be drafted, it is expected to encompass the sort of guns that are overwhelmingly manufactured at seven Southern California companies. These guns, such as the .25-caliber Phoenix Arms pistol, have been reported by law enforcement officials and other researchers to be the ones most frequently recovered at crime scenes. Many of the guns cost less than $100.

While state law clearly permits only the state to control “license and registration,” it does not specify what areas fall under the control of cities and counties, Jenkins said.

“In this area, the state is silent,” the city attorney said. “There is a very good argument that the state Legislature hasn’t covered the field, to the exclusion of local regulation.”

In each of the last two years the state Assembly has rejected a law proposed by Assemblyman Louis Caldera (D-Los Angeles) that would grant the right of gun control to cities and counties.

Without that law, the NRA spokesman said, West Hollywood is powerless to ban any type of gun. The powerful lobbying group has not decided how to respond to the city’s proposal.

West Hollywood’s two gun stores and about four pawnshops sell more than 1,000 handguns a year, an unknown number of which would fall into the Saturday night special category, city officials said. The city is still compiling statistics on gun-related crimes.

Owners of perhaps the city’s largest gun seller, the Brass Rail on La Brea Avenue, said the law would discriminate against poor people.

“What they are effectively doing is to deny the right of self defense to the poor and indigent,” said Scott Ehredt, vice president of the company that owns the Brass Rail and five other Los Angeles-area gun stores.

“They are throwing them to the wolves. The police can’t protect them and now the City Council wants to take away their right to defend themselves.”

Ehredt emphasized that all the guns at the store, including cheaper pistols that might be banned by the law, are sold only to customers who pass a state background check. “These are decent people,” he said.

He said his opposition is based on principle, not economics. “It wouldn’t make a whit of difference to us financially if they banned these guns,” Ehredt said. “How much do you make on a $50 gun anyway?”

Ted Szajer, owner of L.A. Guns on Sunset Boulevard, questioned whether the gun control efforts are serious or merely public relations gimmicks.

He noted that the city still has not created forms to register ammunition sales, months after it required the paperwork. (City officials said the registrations have been delayed, but will proceed.)

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Los Angeles city officials are expected to take up a proposal similar to West Hollywood’s early next year.

At least one Santa Monica council member is interested in pursuing a ban and San Francisco’s supervisors have informally discussed Saturday night special restrictions, along with other gun-control proposals.

Both Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams and Sheriff Sherman Block have gone on record backing a prohibition on the manufacture and sale of the weapons.

“I’m inspired by what they’re doing and hope we can join in,” said Los Angeles Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg. “I think many of my colleagues would be interested in joining in.

“No one believes a ban on the sale or possession of these guns will end all violence,” Goldberg said. “But it is another tool to give the police to allow them to confiscate all the weapons when they find them. We need to reduce the volume of these dangerous guns out on the street.”