Gun Lobby Warns Cities of Lawsuits

An innovative effort to ban Saturday night specials across the San Gabriel Valley is being derailed by a new gun lobby tactic: Warning politicians that their cities may face high-cost lawsuits if they ban the sale of the small, cheaply made handguns.

In October, the valley’s Council of Governments, representing 30 cities from Pasadena to Pomona, agreed that each city should pass a ban on Saturday night specials modeled on laws recently approved by West Hollywood, Los Angeles and nearly 20 other cities in California. Only 15 representatives were present, but they unanimously approved the resolution.

Two months later, only West Covina and Monterey Park have passed such bans.

But in back-to-back council meetings this week, the tide may have turned against the effort as Sierra Madre and Pasadena rejected gun ban measures after industry lobbyists warned, among other things, of costly lawsuits if the ordinances were adopted.

Chuck Michel, an attorney for the California Rifle and Pistol Assn. who has sued West Hollywood over its law, is circulating a letter to cities and counties considering such a ban. In the letter, written on behalf of a coalition of gun groups including the National Rifle Assn. and manufacturer American Derringer, Michel warns: “The legal challenges to this ordinance are far from over. . . . Having been placed on notice, your city faces increased exposure.”

In an interview, Michel, added: “It’s unfortunate that that’s all they understand. There’s a lot of good reasons not to pass this other than they will get sued.”

Gun control advocates call the gun lobby tactic a desperation ploy.

“The gun lobby is definitely weakening. They’re losing in the court of public opinion, so they see their only alternative as threatening cities,” said Susan Shaw, executive director of Women Against Gun Violence.

But when residents repeat the gun lobby line, it resonates with their city councils.

“This looks fiscally irresponsible--passing vanity legislation which could result in an expensive lawsuit when we should be looking over fiscal areas with an eagle’s eye,” said William Garr, an attorney from Sierra Madre who argued against the ban before his City Council.

So far, the only city to be sued over the ban is West Hollywood, which was the first city in California to pass a law against the sale of Saturday night specials. Last month, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge dismissed that lawsuit, though the California Rifle and Pistol Assn. has appealed.

West Hollywood officials said they spent $86,000 on the lawsuit out of a municipal budget of $11 million. Mayor Paul Koretz said businessmen and local lawyers have offered to help defray the costs.

“I don’t think it’s anything that will break us,” Koretz said. “I’m sure the other side will be shelling out a lot more money with nothing to show for it.”

After West Hollywood passed the ban, other cities across the state began to replicate the measure. Some were wary of lawsuits, but sought novel ways to protect themselves. In the east San Francisco Bay Area, 21 cities joined together in a compact to contribute $5,000 each toward a legal defense fund if one was sued over the ban. A legal group in San Francisco has volunteered to secure pro-bono representation for cities sued over gun control laws.

But that hasn’t reassured some city legislators.

Though Saturday night special bans remain popular and are seen as viable and effective by gun control advocates, with Los Angeles County last week agreeing to consider such a law and 29 cities and counties so far inscribing it on their books, things have not gone well in the San Gabriel Valley.

Sierra Madre’s City Council unanimously approved the ban on first reading last month. But municipal laws must be approved in two public readings, and when the motion came up for a second reading two weeks later, lawyers Michel and Garr showed up, warning about litigation.

The council tabled the proposal, then voted it down 3 to 2 on Tuesday night.

Those who changed their votes noted that Sierra Madre has no gun store and that litigation would not be worth it for purely symbolic reasons. “I don’t think the council wants to get involved in a lawsuit,” said Mayor Gary Adams, one of the no votes.

Instead, Sierra Madre will consider requiring gun stores to apply for a conditional-use permit before opening in the placid downtown.

Gun control advocates had high hopes that the Pasadena City Council would side with them and ban the guns at a special meeting Wednesday night.

Speaker after speaker--including new Assemblyman Jack Scott and an emergency room physician at Huntington Memorial Hospital--urged the council to pass the ban. But then gun advocates, led by Joel Friedman, executive director of the Pasadena NRA Members Committee, stepped to the podium and reminded the council of Michel’s letter.

The council backed down.

“I am not prepared to spend city money to open another front in the battle,” said Councilman William Crowfoot.

Councilwoman Anne-Marie Villicana noted that the Pasadena Police Department said no Saturday night specials have been used in homicides in the city this year. “It is almost like we are ensuring an ordinance for attorneys to be well paid,” said Villicana.

With three council members absent, all four present would have had to approve the ban, but no one would second Councilman Paul Little’s motion to vote on the ban.

“This is a sad day for Pasadena,” Little fumed moments after the vote. “I speak to schoolchildren regularly. When they ask what am I doing about guns what will I say? The council members are too scared of the gun lobby’s lawyers.”

Friedman said NRA members plan to fan out to council meetings statewide. Gun lobbyists have addressed cities mulling a ban from Long Beach to Livermore.

Gun control advocates call them “class bullies” and say that their warnings amount to a legal bluff. Some cities say they aren’t concerned about NRA threats, expecting the city of Los Angeles to act as a legal shield, absorbing the bulk of any lawsuit’s costs. Los Angeles city officials did not return calls.

“The more cities that pass a resolution such as this, the more the liability can be spread,” said Monterey Park City Councilwoman Judy Chu, whose city passed a Saturday night special ban Wednesday night.

Enacting such a ban is not easy, even without lawsuit worries.

Azusa City Councilwoman Cristina Madrid was a driving force behind the resolution to enact a coordinated ban. Two months later she has yet to introduce a motion to ban the sale of the guns.

“I want to test waters here,” Madrid said. “I don’t want what happened in Sierra Madre to happen here.”

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BACKGROUND

Statewide, 29 cities and counties have adopted bans on the sale of Saturday night specials. Cities in Los Angeles County that have such ordinances: Beverly Hills, Compton, Huntington Park, Inglewood, Los Angeles, Monterey Park, Santa Monica, West Covina and West Hollywood. Measures to ban the sale of cheap handguns were proposed but not approved by the city councils in Pasadena and Sierra Madre.