Pomona Moves to Join Ban of Saturday Night Specials

In the wake of a chilling wave of violence that left six people dead in little more than 24 hours, the Pomona City Council on Monday voted to ban the sale of small, cheaply made handguns known as Saturday night specials.

“I have seen too many mothers cry; I have seen too many funerals,” said City Councilwoman Cristina Carrizosa, who told the crowd that 14 people have been killed within a square mile of her home in the last three years. “There is too much pain in our community.”

With the 5-2 vote, Pomona became at least the 25th city in the state to move to ban Saturday night specials. The ordinance was modeled on one passed in 1995 by West Hollywood, the first municipality to ban the weapons.

The Pomona measure was in the works two years before last month’s deaths of four teens and two adults rocked this gritty blue-collar town. Although some city officials raised the specter of gang violence, police say they have no leads and no indication that the slayings were connected.

Monday night, the first speakers were mostly those who objected to the ordinance. They occasionally talked among themselves and chuckled when gun control advocates began to plead their case.

“If you don’t live in Pomona, don’t laugh, because the youths are dying here” Alejandro Ornelas, 19, told the sometimes boisterous crowd.

The City Council had drafted the ordinance at the start of the year at the request of Police Chief Richard Shaurette, but had to send it through a subcommittee before the initial vote Monday night. A second vote next week is required before the measure becomes law.

Included in the proposal was a measure requiring all purchasers of ammunition to register their names and addresses with police. But it was the Saturday night special ban that has caused the most controversy, and an overflow crowd of activists and residents packed the council chambers Monday night, deeply divided over the issue.

“There are too many bad things if we make this a law,” said Doug Fortelny, who opposed the ban. “Is this a wise use of the assets of the community?”

Supporters drew on personal experience to argue their case.

“The only thing this type of gun has done effectively, to my knowledge, is kill my brother,” said Timothy Blek, 23, who told the crowd that his older brother was slain three years ago by teenagers using a Saturday night special.

Since West Hollywood passed its ban, cities from the Bay Area to Compton have followed in its footsteps, with the city of Los Angeles passing its ban this summer. Several cities, such as Pasadena, have backed down in the face of threats of litigation from gun groups.

So far, only West Hollywood has been sued, and that case is being appealed. But the lawyer who filed the lawsuit, Chuck Michel, warned the Pomona City Council that it could be next.

“There may be legal costs from when the city is sued for passing this ordinance,” he said.

Michel and others argued that the law would discriminate against low-income people who need the inexpensive firearms for self-defense.

“Today, we have the opportunity to say that the Pomona City Council is not elitist,” said Joshua Elliott Wilson, a criminology student at Cal State Long Beach.

Supporters objected to being labeled elitist and discounted warnings that the law would devastate the city’s economy by chasing away a large, annual gun show.

Councilwoman Carrizosa said the potential financial loss was worth the risk. She lives a few blocks from a field where two teenagers, ages 15 and 16, were shot to death last month.

“As I go home tonight, I’m going to pass that field,” she said. “And I’m going to feel my stomach sink and my heart speed up and I’m not going to be able to sleep.”