Violence on a Higher Peg

Even here, in a city accustomed to excess, the horrific image of bank robbers spraying bullets at police officers possesses the power to shock. Telecast live, the deadly shootout and manhunt that followed Friday’s robbery of a North Hollywood bank demonstrate how far from civil a nation that can’t control its guns can be.

The chilling calm with which the robbers fired full magazines into groups of police officers took violence to another level. The gunmen were better armed than police and in some cases, better protected, wearing full body armor. The first officers on the scene were armed with only their service revolvers and shotguns. Nonetheless they displayed the kind of valor that honors their badge. In the end, none of the many innocent citizens on the streets outside the bank had been killed by the hail of bullets that came from both sides.

Last week, criticism was leveled at the LAPD’s Special Investigations Section, whose officers killed three suspected robbers and wounded a bystander in a shootout near a Northridge bar. But Friday’s shootout demonstrated the danger that cops face daily and the circumstances under which they must make instant and fateful choices.

The North Hollywood shootout prompted immediate calls from citizens for tighter controls on guns, particularly assault rifles. The fully automatic rifles used by the bank robbers are already banned, but obviously available. Ironically, the shootout took place on the third anniversary of the Brady law, which aims to keep guns off the streets.

The bank robbery also spurred new calls for wider use of automated teller machines in grocery stores or police stations, increasing safety for ATM users.

There were 1,126 bank robberies in Southern California last year, and federal investigators reportedly suspect the robbers in Friday’s shootout were involved in a string of bank jobs. And that may be the most troubling aspect of all this. It suggests bank robbery can be just another career in L.A.