Plop. A huge handgun control bill just landed on Gov. Gray Davis' desk with an annoying thud. And it's about the last thing he wanted to see.
It's not that Davis has anything in particular against this bill. It's just that there are so many gun control measures coming at him.
How's a governor supposed to keep up his carefully crafted image as a moderate--a Clinton centrist--if he signs all these gun control bills, maybe eight or 10 of them?
Answer: He doesn't plan to sign them all.
This first firearms bill to pass the 1999 Legislature and go to the new governor would prohibit Californians from buying more than one handgun a month. It's similar to an L.A. city ordinance that took effect June 3. The idea is to substantially reduce illegal trafficking of handguns through "straw" purchases--somebody legally buying a half-dozen pistols at a store, then peddling them unlawfully on the street.
The Los Angeles Police Department estimates that a quarter of the guns used in L.A. crimes got into the criminals' hands through straw purchases. Statewide, the California Justice Department reports that 22% of the handguns sold legally last year were bought by people purchasing two or more at once.
"Law enforcement around the country says this bill is the single most effective way to keep guns out of the hands of kids," asserts the measure's author, Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles). "If the gun doesn't get out of the store in the first place, it's not going to wind up with some gang member around the block."
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But a one-handgun-per-month limit hasn't been on Davis' agenda. By contrast, he campaigned hard last year against assault weapons and can hardly wait to receive a bill by Sen. Don Perata (D-Alameda) to tighten up California's ban on these big-clip semiautomatics.
The Perata bill has passed the Senate and is pending in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. It seems assured of passage.
Davis also has promised to sign a bill by Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) that would require safety standards for junk handguns, the so-called Saturday night specials. This measure has passed the Senate and, on Wednesday, cleared the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
In addition, the governor no doubt will sign legislation requiring guns to be sold with approved child safety locks. Each house has passed an identical bill and at some point the measures presumably will be merged.
