Backers of Gun Controls Preparing To Fire Another Round of Legislation

-It’s fair to say that greater progress was made on gun control than any other issue during Gov. Gray Davis’ first term.

The cautious governor’s steps were measured, but -- prodded by a more liberal Legislature -- his overall leap was huge.

Topping the list: a tougher assault weapons ban, “Saturday night special” safety standards, a one-per-month limit on handgun purchases, handgun safety training and licensing, child-safety-lock requirements, allowing consumers to sue gun makers for negligent conduct.

Gun zealots, led by the National Rifle Assn., fought Davis and Democrats virtually every step, stubbornly refusing to compromise and giving up more than they surely would have by negotiating. Digging in against gun controls is a losing strategy in California.

There are, by some estimates, 15 million firearms in the state; 27% of households have at least one gun, according to The Times Poll. And people want these weapons controlled.

In September, after four years of gun-law tightening, 51% of voters polled by The Times said the laws should be even stricter. Another 33% felt they were about right. Only 13% wanted them loosened.

The gun lobby clearly does not speak for all California gun owners: 42% thought current laws were on the mark. Another 31% favored tighter controls.

“Gov. Gray Davis has signed more major gun laws than all the other governors in the country combined,” says Luis Tolley of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “Each of the proposals is groundbreaking. It sets the standard for the nation.

“But he shouldn’t quit now. There still are an awful lot of kids being killed by guns, and there’s much more we need to do.”

Next year, firearms control advocates will focus on what the gun lobby always has claimed it supports: keeping weapons away from bad guys and going after their criminal misuse.

Sen. Jack Scott (D-Altadena), a gun-control crusader, last week introduced a bill requiring that manufacturers record the unique “ballistic fingerprint” of each firearm sold in California and deliver it to the state Department of Justice. Using this DOJ data, police presumably could trace bullets and cartridges back to the guns used in crimes -- and to their owners.

“Is it perfect? Of course not,” says Scott. “But it’s one more tool in the arsenal of law enforcement.”

The gun lobby opposes the concept as unproven science. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, however, is high on the science.

State Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer supports the concept, but wants Washington to maintain a nationwide database. That’s more likely to nab killers, he reasons; besides, California is broke and would be hard-pressed to go it alone.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has a federal database bill that isn’t going anywhere while Republicans control Congress.

“California ought to take the lead,” Scott asserts.

Another bill expected to be introduced in Sacramento would require the state attorney general to keep records of long-gun sales, just as he now does handguns. That means registration, historically a fighting word for zealots, who fear the government first will take names and then their guns.

Of course, that’s one of the ideas -- to confiscate guns from ex-cons and misfits who legally aren’t supposed to have them.

The DOJ, under a bipartisan bill the NRA did support, has begun cross-checking would-be gun buyers who flunk background checks against previous handgun registrations. It has discovered and seized hundreds of illegally possessed weapons, including one grenade launcher.

Many more illegally held firearms could be grabbed if the DOJ had a database of long-gun registrations to check. “A law-abiding citizen doesn’t need to worry,” says Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), the bill’s probable author.

Also on the next gun control agenda:

* Making new pistols inoperable when the magazine is removed, even if there’s a bullet in the chamber.

* Another attempt to ban sales of monster, armor-piercing, .50-caliber sniper rifles, as they already have been in Los Angeles.

Some bills will pass next year, some in later years. But they will pass -- as long as California keeps getting more urbanized, its residents demand logical gun laws and Democrats control Sacramento.