NRA Urges Leniency in Gun Permits

Switching weapons in its fight to make concealed-gun permits more easily obtainable, a grass-roots chapter of the National Rifle Assn. hopes to change the permit standards statewide, one city at a time.

For its first target, the East Ventura County NRA Members Council chose America’s third-safest large city--conservative, gun-friendly Simi Valley.

So friendly, in fact, that the city’s police chief may beat the NRA to the punch.

Chief Randy Adams outlined his new policy Thursday afternoon: Any Simi Valley resident with a clean criminal record and $1 million worth of liability insurance who can pass a gun proficiency course and a psychological exam should be allowed to carry a hidden gun.

“Philosophically, I believe that citizens who are law-abiding . . . who can show proficiency with a weapon and provide evidence of proper insurance and are psychologically sound should have the opportunity,” said Adams, who was appointed in August.

These rules will surely entice more Simi Valley residents to apply to carry weapons, Adams said.

“I’d imagine we’d issue more permits than in the past,” he added. “I’m totally comfortable with that, because they will have met the criteria.”

California law allows most permit holders to carry concealed weapons anywhere in the state, although some cities restrict where and when their permit holders can carry guns.

NRA chapter leader Michael Mason applauded Adams’ plans Thursday, but said that his group still intends to go before the Simi Valley City Council as early as Monday night with a draft of a proposed policy in hand.

“Simi Valley is probably more pro-gun than other communities in Southern California,” said Mason, head of the 6-month-old NRA chapter. “I’m not sure [Adams’ policy] would negate ours. We’re looking forward to using it as a model for other communities in the state.”

California law empowers only police chiefs and sheriffs to issue concealed-weapon permits. As of 1995, about 245 Ventura County residents were licensed to carry guns, including 13 Simi Valley residents.

The law says that chiefs and sheriffs may grant permits only to those people they judge to have “good moral character” and “good cause” to need self-protection.

But with such ill-defined standards, Mason said, police officials statewide reject most applications.

The NRA Members Council’s proposed policy for Simi Valley would sharpen those phrases to a finer legal point.

“Good moral character” would include anyone who meets state laws for simply owning a gun: anyone over age 21 who has passed a gun safety course and who has never been convicted of a violent felony, labeled as a gang member by police, or judged to have a history of mental illness or drug abuse.

And “good cause” would encompass a host of applicants, according to the NRA chapter’s plan: anyone whose age, sex or disabilities make them vulnerable to attack, anyone who must travel through high-crime areas for business or family obligations, and anyone who has received death threats or obtained a restraining order against someone else.

The goal, Mason said, is not to change the state law on concealed weapon permits, but to limit a police chief’s ability to interpret it.

“We see Simi Valley as one of the best opportunities for change in the state,” he said.

A recent phone poll of Simi Valley residents conducted by the chapter found that 60% of those surveyed would favor relaxing or erasing restrictions on carrying concealed weapons, Mason said.

“We believe that a lot of conservative people live in Simi Valley,” Mason said. “And we’ve seen real good support for Second Amendment rights from people who’ve run for office here--and Sandi Webb is an example.”

Webb, a Simi Valley councilwoman and NRA chapter member, testified last spring at state Legislature hearings in favor of NRA efforts to change California’s permitting process.

“I think it’s great,” she said of the NRA plan. “If you really could do a candid survey, you’d find most of the people that want to carry are carrying anyway.”

That includes Webb, who also testified that she began packing a pistol illegally after she was raped more than 20 years ago.

Councilwoman Barbara Williamson said she, too, supports the NRA plan, arguing that the policy will add a layer of regulation to the lives of otherwise law-abiding folk who will carry concealed weapons whether it is legal or not.

“I have to believe that there are more people in favor of this,” she said. “We’ll have public hearings on it, and people will be more than invited to come down and say their piece about it.”

But critics warned that more handguns on the streets of Simi Valley could also mean more violence--or at least more litigation from applicants who have been turned down.

“It’s a disaster waiting to happen,” said Sandy Cooney, president of the lobbying group Handgun Control Inc. “This issue flies in the face of public safety and is contrary to fact. We know that when you introduce concealed weapons to a situation, the probability of more violent activity increases dramatically.”

And other City Council members, such as Paul Miller, questioned whether cities can, piecemeal, supersede California’s gun law.

“It’s not the council’s position to make these major changes,” said Councilman Bill Davis.

The NRA plan’s definitions of a qualified applicant are so broad, he said, “I doubt if there is a human being walking the face of the earth that wouldn’t qualify.”

Mayor Greg Stratton said the proposed NRA policy does not seem to conflict with the older policy drafted by Miller, who was the city’s police chief for 12 years.

He added, “Some of it, I think, is more P.R. than changes.”