An On-Target Gun Policy

While other gun makers angrily refuse to join Smith & Wesson in taking even modest, voluntary steps to reduce gun violence, a handful of cities, now including Los Angeles, may make that bullheadedness costly.

The so-called preferred buying program for law enforcement agencies got its start over the weekend after Smith & Wesson’s agreement to a host of safety measures in the way it makes and markets its handguns. Among them, the company promised to equip new handguns with trigger locks, stop doing business with gun show dealers who don’t conduct criminal background checks and change trigger and grip designs to make guns harder for children to fire.

To pressure other firms to follow, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, along with Detroit, Atlanta and Miami-Dade County, pledged to purchase weapons for their police only from Smith & Wesson or other future signatories to the agreement.

Wednesday, Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Feuer requested a report on the feasibility of doing the same thing here. Four city agencies--the police, airport, harbor and general services departments--employ armed personnel. That report, due in 45 days, should prompt the council to join this fast-growing coalition. In recent days, Boston, Providence, R.I., Bridgeport, Conn., and San Francisco, along with the State of Maryland, have said they will join as well.

The idea is not without practical problems. For instance, the LAPD now buys Beretta handguns for its officers, although it does maintain and repair some Smith & Wesson firearms. In the short term, the new buying policy will likely impose additional costs and inconvenience on the city.

But the principle is simple and powerful. With law enforcement agencies buying an estimated 25% of all handguns sold in the U.S., the long-term public safety gains of dealing with the most responsible manufacturers should be well worth the trouble.