Officials Raise Battle Cry Against Gun Proliferation

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti on Tuesday joined LAPD Chief Bernard C. Parks in calling for new laws that would allow for the collection, destruction and prohibition of all assault weapons.

Garcetti and Baca also supported Parks’ call for elimination of small, cheap, poor-quality handguns known by some as Saturday night specials. But Baca said he would not ban small handguns that are of higher quality.

In a related development Tuesday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), spurred by Parks’ comments, announced that she would introduce legislation banning possession of all assault weapons.

A spokesman for Feinstein said the proposal would seek to collect weapons already in the hands of gun owners. Details of the “turn-in” program, such as how the owners would be compensated, have not yet been worked out, the spokesman said.

The flurry of activity follows the shooting rampage last week, allegedly by a neo-Nazi, that left five wounded at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills and a postman dead in Chatsworth.

Baca, a former member of the National Rifle Assn., said the country’s policymakers should not be afraid to enact more comprehensive gun control laws.

“Political cowardice is not something that is going to apply to solving this problem,” said Baca at a luncheon hosted by The Times, which Garcetti and Parks also attended. “You have to stand up and say that common sense and doing the right thing are more important than holding political office.

“If you can’t take the heat from the NRA, then go do something else for a living,” he added.

Parks, meanwhile, stepped up his campaign for more restrictive gun laws, proposing that firearms be ballistically tested and the results recorded before the guns are sold so they can be better traced if they are used in crimes. The chief said he intends to expand on comments he made last week on the issue at a news conference today.

Parks, who is hoping to use his high profile in law enforcement to press for tougher gun measures, has also proposed banning gun shows, where firearms are bought and sold with little regulation. Additionally, he said people with mental health problems or histories of committing violence should not be permitted to have guns.

Parks said he plans to chip at the gun control issue “little by little” and realizes that the subject is a volatile one. “You can’t get fuzzy and go too far and say, ‘All guns have to disappear.’ Then we lose folks,” he said.

“It would be wonderful to get federal legislation, but [local] jurisdictions should not be preempted from addressing their own concerns,” he added.

Parks said he does not object to people owning guns for hunting or home protection.

Garcetti, Parks and Baca met with reporters and editors at The Times to discuss their support for a bill by Assemblyman Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) that would place a $500-million bond issue on the March ballot to renovate and expand forensic laboratories in the state.

Hertzberg, who also attended the luncheon, said Los Angeles could receive $165 million to build a state-of-the-art laboratory and teaching facility that would be jointly operated by the LAPD and Sheriff’s Department at Cal State L.A.

The assemblyman also voiced his support for Parks’ views on gun control. Hertzberg acknowledged, however, that gun control legislation is a hard sell. “There is just something about guns that just gets people excited,” he said.

Feinstein was traveling Tuesday and unavailable for comment on her pending legislative proposal.

Currently, federal law prohibits the possession of certain semiautomatic assault weapons made after September 1994. The law bans eight models, such as the AK-47 and the Colt AR-15, copies or duplicates of those and any other weapon that accepts a detachable ammunition magazine and has at least two of five specific military features, such as a pistol grip beneath the firing mechanism.

The law also bans the possession of magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds. Purchasers of any firearm must undergo a criminal background check, unless they buy the gun from an unlicensed seller.

In California, which has the nation’s most restrictive assault weapon laws, the sale, manufacture and import of the guns is prohibited, and transfers of existing weapons in the state must be registered.

Both Parks and Baca said the shooting at the community center and the subsequent arrest of suspect Buford O. Furrow Jr. highlight the need for a more proactive approach to hate groups. Baca suggested that laws against making terrorist threats be applied to groups engaging in hate speech.

He also said he thinks it should be a civil offense to offend the “psyche of society” by making hateful comments about people from another race or religion.

“I think people who are involved in hate groups are very, very dangerous,” Baca said. “At some point you have to draw the line.”