Senate Sends Ban on Making Cheap Guns to Governor

The state Senate on Tuesday narrowly passed and sent to Gov. Pete Wilson a historic gun control bill that outlaws the manufacture and sale of so-called Saturday night specials in California.

Wilson, considered a moderate on gun control, has not indicated whether he intends to sign or veto the bill, but has raised questions.

“The governor hasn’t decided what he’ll do,” a Wilson spokesman said shortly after the Senate acted. “We have more questions than answers. Among them is whether the bill will preclude people from obtaining an inexpensive form of self-protection and whether it will, in fact, remove these guns from the hands of gang members.”

Ownership of such guns would remain legal under the bill.

The measure, several versions of which had been easily killed by the gun lobby for years, was supported by law enforcement organizations and opposed by the National Rifle Assn. and other gun owner groups.

Critics say California firms produce 80% of the Saturday night specials in the United States. Police chiefs, county sheriffs and gun control advocates, including Handgun Control Inc., have argued for years that such guns are the firearms of choice for criminals and are easily obtained.

The bill (SB 500) was the first major gun control measure to clear both houses of the Legislature since Democrats recaptured control of the Assembly from Republicans last November.

It would take effect Jan. 1, 1999, and is aimed at the easily concealed, inexpensive and often unsafe handguns that police say are favored by street gangsters and other criminals.

But opponents, including the NRA, have charged that outlawing these firearms would unfairly discriminate against low-income Californians who cannot afford more expensive weapons for self-defense purposes.

“There comes a time when we all must look the NRA straight in the eye and tell them they are wrong,” Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) told his colleagues. “President Bush did it. President Reagan did it. We ought to do it.”

The Polanco bill went to Republican Wilson on a 22-15 vote, one more than needed for approval. The yes votes were cast by majority Democrats, one Republican and an independent. Other Republicans and one Democrat voted no.

If it becomes law, the bill would probably fall hardest on several manufacturers in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, whose chief products are easily concealed handguns made of cheap materials. The guns can cost anywhere from $40 to $150.

Since 1968, in the wake of the slaying of presidential candidate Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles, the federal government has applied a rigorous set of safety and size standards that foreign manufacturers must meet before their handguns are approved for importation into the United States.

Polanco argued that no such standards apply to handguns manufactured and sold in California. His bill would apply the federal importation standards to U.S. manufacturers who sell pistols and revolvers in California.

Noting that public safety standards apply to everything from children’s car seats to the hamburger that Americans consume, Polanco said: “We ought to demand no less from the gun manufacturers.”

It would be against the law to make or sell guns that flunked the new standard, and carry penalties of a year in jail and a fine of $1,000.

The bill also would require the attorney general to establish a list of guns banned because they failed to meet size, safety or other standards. The bill was opposed by Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren.

Steve Helsley, NRA lobbyist for California, charged that the Polanco bill was so sloppily written that it would ban not only cheap handguns but also very expensive revolvers of the sort made famous by cowboy movie stars Roy Rogers and John Wayne.

Such revolvers and replicas are manufactured by big-name companies and can cost thousands of dollars, Helsley said. They are favored by wealthy collectors.

Similar arguments against the bill were raised during the Senate debate by Sen. Richard Mountjoy (R-Arcadia), a champion of gun-owner rights.

“There will not be one criminal out there who will obey this bill,” Mountjoy said. “If you want to get real about gun legislation, let’s get real and punish the people who misuse them.”

Sen. Ray Haynes (R-Riverside), another opponent, warned that the bill was a precursor to “the banning of all handguns.”

But Democratic Sen. Mike Thompson of St. Helena, a gun owner and duck hunter, defined Saturday night specials as “‘small, throwaway, disposable, cheaply made” firearms that have “no place in a sporting society, no place in civilized society.”