Supervisors OK Ban on ‘Saturday Night Specials’

The Board of Supervisors Tuesday formally approved the ban on the sale of “junk guns” it had adopted last week, but only after its most conservative member again tried to block the law.

The ban on so-called Saturday night specials, small and easily concealable handguns that authorities say are used in the vast majority of local crimes, was backed by a majority of supervisors last week. On Tuesday it came before the board on a second reading, a formality that requires a measure to be voted on twice before it takes effect.

Gary Jennings, the owner of a company that distributes most of the Saturday night specials in the West, and an attorney representing a related gun manufacturer, told the supervisors that they were passing a law based on bad data from gun control groups.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich, calling the law “a classic liberal panacea,” proposed amending it to exclude all weapons that are classified as safe handguns by Smith & Wesson.

Zev Yaroslavsky, who proposed the ban, complained that Antonovich was “orchestrating a filibuster” and demanded a vote. A 3-2 majority shot down Antonovich’s amendment and approved the ban, with Supervisor Don Knabe joining fellow Republican Antonovich in voting against the measure.