City Council Backs New Gun Laws

Just days after Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed state legislation to ban the manufacture and sale of cheap handguns, the Los Angeles City Council took its own steps Tuesday to prevent gun violence in the city.

The council gave its preliminary support Tuesday to a package of gun control measures--backed by LAPD Chief Bernard C. Parks and the Police Commission--aimed at reducing accidental and intentional shootings, a leading cause of death among people under the age of 24.

The measures, introduced by Councilman Mike Feuer, would require trigger locks or similar safety devices to be sold with guns; mandate taking thumbprints from people who buy ammunition; require background checks on all gun shop employees, and ban the sale of magazines and clips that can be converted to hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. The council also voted to prohibit the owners of the cheap, so-called Saturday night specials from reselling the weapons to gun dealers.

The measures are expected to easily win approval when they come back to the council for another vote next week.

The City Council had endorsed the state legislation, and in debate Tuesday council members frequently cited the governor’s veto. Wilson suggested Friday that the tougher manufacturing standards would deny poor people a chance to buy guns for protection.

Most council members, however, said the guns are mostly used for one purpose--killing--and that local officials now must make their own laws to protect citizens.

“We need to take every step we can to stem the tide of gun violence that threatens all of us every day,” said Feuer, who drafted the measures to close loopholes in state and city laws.

Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who supported the measures, said the city needs all the gun restrictions it can get because “too many of our communities are being torn apart by people who find it too easy to buy guns and too easy to buy ammunition.”

Further, she said: “It only takes one guy with a gun and a bullet to break down a fragile peace.”

Councilmen Hal Bernson and Nate Holden objected to the thumbprint requirement, which police say will help in tracking down a suspect if the bullets are used in a crime.

Initially, Bernson said he thought the requirement could be an “imposition” on people buying guns and bullets for protection.

And Holden said he thought the requirement was a “slippery, sneaky” technique that should not be used by the city to identify gun and ammunition purchasers.

Still, Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg said the measures are minimal and that she believes the council and the state need to be far more aggressive on gun control.

“I don’t think we’re anywhere near reducing gun violence,” she said. “Until we get serious about guns and the proliferation of guns, we’re never going to reduce the violence.”

The council also agreed to place a measure on the April 1999 ballot calling for higher business taxes for gun and ammunition dealers. The tax would increase from just over 0.5% to 5%.