Officials Raise Battle Cry Against Gun Proliferation

Los Angeles County Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Yvonne Brathwaite Burke launched a campaign Tuesday to stop the sale or possession of guns and ammunition on all county property from parks to beaches, courthouses to the fairgrounds.

But with Supervisor Gloria Molina out of the country on vacation, they did not have the votes to pass twin ordinances that would outlaw controversial gun shows by making the sale or possession of firearms or ammunition illegal on any county property, including the fairgrounds in Pomona, where such events are staged.

Yaroslavsky vowed to move ahead with the ordinances, which are still being drafted, when Molina returns next week. “Public facilities should be sanctuaries of safety, not arms bazaars,” he said.

Burke said she feels strongly that action must be taken: “We should not be in the gun business in the county of Los Angeles.”

Chad Seger, manager of the Great Western gun shows held four times a year at the fairgrounds, told the supervisors that security at the shows has “improved incredibly over the last several months. It no longer is a thing where people feel they can conduct criminal activity.”

Chuck Michel, attorney for the gun show, said Yaroslavsky’s proposed ban on the sale or possession of guns or ammunition on county property would face major constitutional hurdles. “Legally, they are going to have to get over a number of barriers before they can accomplish this,” he said.

Santa Clara County supervisors tried to outlaw gun shows by amending a lease with the operator of the county fairgrounds. The gun show promoter sued and the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in April 1997 that the approach used by the county violated the 1st Amendment by restricting “commercial speech.”

But in the decision, the three-judge federal panel noted that “substantial, effective and carefully drafted legislative acts to improve public safety generally” may be able to pass muster.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe said he was willing to look at the issue of banning the sale of guns and ammunition. “I wish the action we are going to take . . . would take care of the violence,” Knabe said. “I want to make sure it is very thoughtful and we are really trying to reduce violence and not overreact to political rhetoric.”

Supervisor Mike Antonovich was the strongest in his opposition to Yaroslavsky’s approach. He said there were no arrests at the last gun show and no crimes were committed. “Do we penalize the 99.9% who are law-abiding as a result of the actions of a handful of nuts?”

Meanwhile in Sacramento, the state Senate Public Safety Committee voted unanimous bipartisan approval to a bill that would impose tighter regulation of the gun show industry, including stricter licensing of promoters and criminal penalties for violations.

The bill by Assemblywoman Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro), which was amended to include virtually all of a competing measure by Assemblyman Rodrick Wright (D-Los Angeles), was sent to the Senate Appropriations Committee for another hearing.

The latest bill, which identifies promoters as producers, would write into law some of the conditions contained in a contract that gun show operators long had with the state, but that has been under attack in the courts.

But the bill would impose new restrictions on the estimated 20 gun show promoters in California who are subject to background checks and certification by the state Department of Justice.

Among other things, they would have to submit a security plan in advance to local law enforcement authorities, sign written contracts with vendors, submit a list to the attorney general of participating licensed firearms dealers, and require firearms brought into the show to display a tag identifying the owner and warning that firearms transactions must go through a dealer.

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Times staff writer Carl Ingram in Sacramento contributed to this report.