Cooley Clarifies Gun Views in Debate With Garcetti

District attorney candidate Steve Cooley clarified his position on gun control during a debate Tuesday night, saying he supports the licensing of gun owners and a waiting period before firearm purchases.

Cooley’s comments came in response to questioning by incumbent Gil Garcetti, as the two candidates for Los Angeles County district attorney held the second debate of their campaign.

Garcetti defended his handling of the Rampart police scandal and said he was a more progressive, proactive prosecutor than Cooley.

Garcetti, however, faced a number of hostile questions from the audience at the forum, sponsored by the Tarzana Property Owners Assn. Cooley asked Garcetti during the debate, “Do you accept any responsibility for the Rampart scandal? Yes or no?”

Garcetti replied: “My responsibility as the district attorney is to seek justice in every case.”

An audience member shouted, “Yes or no, is that too tough?”

Moderator Bill Rosendahl moved to another topic.

In their previous debate, Garcetti appeared to catch Cooley off guard when he brought up gun control, which Garcetti strongly advocates. This time Cooley appeared ready.

Asked by Garcetti whether he supported licensing before the purchase of firearms, Cooley responded, “Yes, I do. Licensing is probably the next logical step in terms of effective gun control. What we need to do is to make sure that guns are only in the hands of law-abiding citizens who have had a certain amount of basic training before they have that weapon in their possession.”

Two debates in less than two weeks is a sign of how the tide of the race has shifted since March, when Garcetti refused to debate Cooley in a three-way primary campaign. Cooley came in first, forcing a November runoff with Garcetti. A recent Los Angeles Times poll showed the challenger leading by a 3-to-1 margin.

Before Tuesday night’s event, Garcetti’s campaign manager, Eric Nasarenko, charged that Cooley has been trying to duck further debates with Garcetti. Cooley campaign officials said that charge was ludicrous.

“A month ago, they wanted to schedule multiple appearances and debates and now they’re avoiding them,” Nasarenko said. “There appears to be a double standard.”

Cooley campaign spokesman Joe Scott said, “This is unbelievable. It took them 190 days to agree to a debate. Now they’re desperate.”

He said Cooley has rejected some proposed dates for debates because of scheduling conflicts, but is willing to debate Garcetti as often as possible.