Dead End for a Pro-Gun Policy

Dan Lungren was never enthusiastic about California’s 1989 ban on assault guns. But once he took office as attorney general, in 1991, he was sworn to enforce that ban, which outlawed specific assault gun models, and to prosecute those who ignored it.

A key provision of the measure allowed those who owned these exceedingly dangerous weapons before 1989 to keep them, provided the guns were registered. Any Californian possessing an unregistered assault gun after March 30, 1992, could be punished by a fine and possibly a prison term. Seems clear enough--and reasonable enough.

But apparently not to Lungren, who, in an act of accommodation unusual among government officials, continued to allow assault gun owners to register their weapons--16,084 of them in fact--long after the deadline and without penalty. Lungren’s argument, that the Legislature never intended the deadline to be firm, wouldn’t pass the laugh test at the Franchise Tax Board or any other state agency with deadlines.

On Wednesday, a San Francisco Superior Court judge decreed that the argument didn’t pass legal muster. Ruling in a lawsuit brought by Handgun Control, Judge Raymond Williamson said the attorney general’s continued approval of post-deadline registration allows proliferation of illegal assault weapons, “posing a significant risk to the safety and welfare of the public.”

Lungren says he “disagrees with the ruling” but will immediately prohibit further registration of assault guns. Good, but way too late.