A Loaded Question : Compton residents say something must be done to fight crime, but not all agree that a gun law is the answer. : City Smart / How to thrive in the urban environment of Southern California

Nearly every night after the sun goes down, Ineda Henderson hears gun shots piercing the air in her Compton neighborhood. The retired food server said she is too terrified to walk the streets, and virtually never leaves her house after dark.

“People with guns, they think that gives them some extra power,” Henderson said Thursday as she shopped at a discount store on Rosecrans and Central Avenues. “There is just too much shooting. If ain’t nobody got no guns, then can’t nobody kill nobody. I say ban them all.”

Not all Compton residents agree.

“I’d rather be caught with a pistol than without one,” said Al Turner, an office clerk on disability leave who talked with a friend in a Compton parking lot. “You can’t get rid of the guns. We need them for protection.”

Such disagreements were volleyed back and forth on Compton streets the day after the City Council tentatively approved an ordinance banning the sale of cheap handguns known as Saturday night specials. The lawmakers said such weapons are commonly used in violent crimes.

As word of the proposal spread, Compton residents agreed that something must be done to combat violence in their neighborhoods.

Could a new law solve the problem?

The question was a subject of discussions in shopping malls and gas stations and parking lots.

Some residents lauded local officials for their efforts to curb violence, while others complained that increased government regulation focuses on the symptoms of violence, not the root causes.

Few were optimistic that banning just one type of small-caliber gun would do much to alleviate crime and save lives.

“This will not stop criminals from buying guns,” said Lawrence Wolfley, a federally licensed private gun dealer who sells weapons to Compton residents and lives just outside the city limits in North Long Beach.

“Gangsters and drug dealers don’t use these little guns anyway. They use bigger ones that really pack a wallop.

“This is strictly a grandstand play to impress voters that they’re anti-crime,” Wolfley said.

Others applauded the council for sending a message that Compton is trying to fight violence, if only in a small way.

“It’s a start,” said Compton Police Capt. Steven Roller. “We have confiscated so many of these guns, this law will certainly have a positive effect.”

West Hollywood has approved a similar ban; Los Angeles and Huntington Park have proposed such ordinances.

Although overall crime has steadily declined in Compton during the last five years, murders and aggravated assaults have hovered at the same levels for about three years, law enforcement officials said.

And membership in the city’s eight to 10 gangs has steadily increased, the officials said.

Still, opinions on the proposal were divided.

“How are these people out here going to protect themselves if they ban the guns?” asked a retired Navy officer, who did not want his name used.

“The police don’t come when you call them. You got to wait, and wait, and call again. We need some kind of recourse out here.”

Those who have guns should be trained and checked out before they are allowed to have them, he insisted.

Clara Newsom, a retired nurse, had a different view.

“No, no, no guns at all,” she said. “Get the guns out of people’s hands altogether. Something needs to be done. I would vote to ban them.”

Some wondered at the logic of a small city like Compton passing such a law.

Can’t those who want guns cross city lines into Long Beach or Los Angeles to make their purchases? And why ban such a low-powered handgun when law enforcement officials reported that semi-automatic guns are the weapons of choice in drive-by shootings and gang-related conflicts?

“Why this gun out of all of them?” asked Vernon Cresswell, a Compton Fire Department paramedic as he took a breakfast break.

Some residents said the proposal was one more sign of heavy-handed government control.

“Big Brother is stepping in more and more these days,” Turner said. “If they really want to do something, ban all the guns from a .32 on down. Getting rid of this puny little gun won’t do nothing.”

Turner said he had seen Saturday night specials, which cost between $40 and $100, used by criminals and then abandoned in alleys near his home. They can be grabbed by anyone, even small children, he said.

Al Harris has five children and another on the way.

The construction worker used to own a 9-millimeter pistol for protection against car thieves and burglars--until he realized having a gun in the home was more dangerous to his family than would-be assailants.

“That gun would have gotten me in trouble one way or another,” said Harris, as he cleaned his car in a mini-mall parking lot. “We need to get all those guns off the streets, just get rid of them. A lot of people just don’t know how to use them, that’s the big problem.”

Gun dealer Wolfley sees it differently.

“The bottom line is, they are guns and they are effective,” he said. “They may be small but they can still kill you.”