Gun Laws: L.A. Again in Vanguard

Last week’s commendable action by the Los Angeles City Council banning easily concealable handguns followed hard on the heels of a second high school blood bath near San Diego. That timing underscores not the futility of trying to prevent gun tragedies but the opposite--the urgent need for more action.

Colorado’s Columbine High School shooting in 1999, the most deadly and gruesome to date, gave rise to such ludicrous proposals from pro-gun extremists as allowing teenage students to keep guns in their automobiles at school. So it’s hardly surprising that after the Santana High School shooting earlier this month, news reports featured a Texas state lawmaker’s proposal to allow rural high school principals to carry concealed weapons. In this direction surely lies more madness.

In the other direction--enacting and enforcing more meaningful limits on gun possession--lies the only real hope for public safety. Yet with more than 200 million guns already in American bedrooms, glove compartments and garages, the goal of limiting gun ownership to those who demonstrate competency will be slow in coming and hard-won.

The Los Angeles City Council’s vote last week was another strong step. The council approved an ordinance to outlaw the sale of “pocket rockets,” very small handguns. Since few local residents have the permit required to carry a gun, these concealable weapons have found their biggest market as the firearm of choice for criminals, according to the measure’s sponsor, Councilman Mike Feuer.

In a separate vote, the council moved to require thumbprints from gun buyers in Los Angeles to help prosecutors make cases against felons and others who try to buy weapons they are barred from owning. Because several members were absent, the two measures will come back before the council Wednesday for a required second vote. The council will also take up three measures that would limit ammunition purchases.

The City Council’s actions build on an impressive record. Several statewide gun measures, including a trigger lock requirement and a one-gun-per-month purchase limit, were first adopted in Los Angeles. Nearby cities, linked in a countywide gun violence coordinating group, have often copied L.A.’s lead, putting pressure on state lawmakers to act. The day after the City Council voted last week, the state Assembly wisely adopted a ban on the sale of guns from homes by so-called kitchen table dealers, something already outlawed in Los Angeles.

However, the most effective gun limits are still federal. President Bush, a longtime foe of most gun controls, at the very least owes it to Americans to step up gun enforcement funding and staffing. But that’s not enough. Congress must return to last year’s unfinished business. The top priorities are requiring buyers at gun shows to undergo federal background checks, requiring that effective trigger locks be sold with handguns and banning the importation of high-capacity ammunition magazines. These measures may have new momentum in Congress with support from old foes of gun control such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). This bloody spring should also rouse to action other men and women of conscience in Washington.