Sacramento — Want to control guns? Elect Democrats.
Want to keep military-style assault weapons off the streets and out of schoolyards? Remove President Bush from the Oval Office. Replace U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco).
Think Americans in other states should be free to buy practically any firearm that intrigues them, with a jumbo clip so they can squeeze off 50 rounds without having to reload? Then reelect the Republican president and return Republicans to power in Congress.
But if you prefer California's toughest-in-the-nation state gun laws? Then you'd better keep Democrats in control of the Legislature.
Voters have just seen a vivid illustration of what it means to elect Democrats or Republicans, at least on the issue of firearms.
In 1994, under a Democratic president and a Democrat-controlled Congress, the federal government banned assault weapons and the manufacture of ammunition magazines holding more than 10 rounds. On Monday, with Republicans now in power, the president and Congress allowed the ban to expire.
"It makes me sick to my stomach," said the ban's chief sponsor, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). She contended the percentage of assault weapons used in crimes had been cut by two-thirds during the 10-year ban.
Democrats enact gun controls; Republicans cower from the gun lobbies.
Not entirely, of course. The jury's still out on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The centrist governor did tell me in early 2001 -- before he entered politics -- that "I believe in sensible gun controls. Definitely, I'm against assault weapons." And on Monday, he showed it.
Schwarzenegger signed a bill -- by Assemblyman Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood) -- banning sales of .50-caliber BMG super-rifles. These small cannons measure 5 feet, weigh about 30 pounds, sit on tripods and can take out concrete bunkers. They're used for target shooting, mostly out in the desert.
During legislative debate, there was heated argument over whether the guns are capable of bringing down low-flying passenger jets. Republicans were willing to risk it. Only two voted to ban the weapons: Assembly members Shirley Horton of Chula Vista and Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria. Both are in competitive legislative races and live along the coast, where gun control is more popular than in the rural inland valleys.
