Weapons Safety

Gov. George W. Bush, taking a new direction in his evolving approach to gun control, launched a program Friday to give free trigger locks to any handgun owners in Texas who want them. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee initiated the program with little advance notice, setting aside $1 million per year in state funds for five years to purchase trigger locks that will be distributed through police stations and fire departments.

The Senate Public Safety Committee approved a bill Tuesday that would ban the sale of any firearm safety device not approved by Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer. The bill (SB 1670) by Sen. Jack Scott (D-Altadena) is intended to rid gun store shelves of an array of plastic trigger locks and other devices that fail to comply with recently adopted safety standards set by the state Department of Justice. Since Jan.

One year after the Columbine High School shooting, newly energized gun-control forces are grappling with a potentially critical split within their ranks over a key strategic decision: How far can they hope to go in reining in guns? For all the recent talk of "smart" guns, trigger locks and other innovations in weapons safety, an increasingly vocal minority in the gun-control community is arguing that nothing short of a ban on handguns will stem gun violence.

Nearly half of the gun-owning households in Los Angeles County with children under 18 do not store guns safely, the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services announced Tuesday. A department-sponsored telephone survey found that 45% of those gun owners don't lock the weapons in a cabinet or other firearm container. About 114,000 children live in those homes. "These findings are of concern and it suggests a need for more education," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of public health.

In the first test of a new state law, charges were filed Friday against a San Jose man whose 4-year-old grandson fatally shot himself with a handgun authorities said was carelessly left in an accessible place by the grandfather. Carion Nicholas Conchas, 47, was charged under the Children's Firearm Accident Prevention Act, which took effect New Year's Day, just 10 hours before the boy's death.

Elizabeth Freeman, one of Kauai's outspoken environmentalists, was finally able to make it to a phone Wednesday. It was five days after Hurricane Iniki had damaged her home and cut off her ties to the mainland. One of her first calls was to Western Union, where she shipped off a telegram to President Bush urging him to halt U.S. military plans for using a missile base on the west side of Kauai as a launch pad for "Star Wars" technology.

A police campaign is successfully targeting New Year's Eve merrymakers who fire guns into the air in a deadly celebration that has killed and injured bystanders in the past, Los Angeles officials said Thursday. For the second year, a weeklong ban on ammunition sales in Los Angeles went into effect Christmas Day. Police also are conducting a public information campaign to warn about the dangers of random gunfire. "We've reduced the problem by 90%," said Police Lt.

A U.S. divisional commander in the Gulf War has ordered his soldiers not to load their rifles unless on guard duty after a spate of accidental firings, the division's safety manager said. "The word is that we will not lock and load until contact with the enemy is imminent," said Mel Kelder, civilian safety manager of the U.S. Army's 3rd Armored Division. "In the area where we're located now, we're not in danger."

The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the mayors of Atlanta, Detroit and Miami on Saturday directed their law enforcement agencies to give preference to Smith & Wesson when buying guns and called on municipal leaders nationwide to follow suit.

The folks here have always been friends with their military neighbors. God-fearing and patriotic, this quiet corner of the Deep South, halfway between Atlanta and Birmingham, Ala., is proud to be home to Ft. McClellan and the Anniston Army Depot, the area's largest employer. In fact, the facilities are here because private citizens collected $130,000 during World War I and bought land for troops to have a place to train.

During the riot of anarchists at the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle last year, police fought demonstrators with an arsenal of high-tech weapons, including a nonlethal bullet known as the PepperBall. Projected at great force from a hand-held launcher, the hard plastic bullet bursts on impact, stunning and psychologically disorienting its victims and filling their eyes, noses and mouths with a fiery concoction of disabling pepper powder.

After putting their steely subjects to the test at a police firing range, a Los Angeles panel studying handgun control is prepared to recommend new restrictions on gun sales aimed at keeping weapons away from criminals and children. The Los Angeles Handgun Task Force, a 12-member panel created by the City Council last year, is drafting standards for handguns that can be fired only by their authorized users--an ambitious effort that backers hope will usher in a new generation of gun safety.

For families interested in gun safety, weekend lessons are available at several shooting ranges in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys. A list of ranges is available through the National Park Service's Visitor Information Center in Agoura Hills, including several sites that provide supervised instruction and shooting practice for individuals, families and 4-H Clubs. To get the list, call (818) 597-9192.

When cities and counties first began filing lawsuits against the firearm industry two years ago, some gun control advocates hoped the nation's courts would act quickly to help reduce the gun-related violence that has plagued urban areas. Similar to state lawsuits against tobacco companies, the litigation was aimed at recovering millions of dollars in medical and law enforcement costs resulting from gun-related violence.

Gov. George W. Bush, taking a new direction in his evolving approach to gun control, launched a program Friday to give free trigger locks to any handgun owners in Texas who want them. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee initiated the program with little advance notice, setting aside $1 million per year in state funds for five years to purchase trigger locks that will be distributed through police stations and fire departments.

The county Board of Supervisors has proposed giving preference to firearms manufacturers that include trigger locks, child safety devices and other features when the county buys guns for the Sheriff's Department and other agencies. "There's a real opportunity to, if nothing else, get gun manufacturers to understand their responsibility to these consumers and their responsibility to these communities," said Supervisor Gloria Molina, who proposed the plan Tuesday.

The Navy says it will seek private-sector bids for the bulk of its weapons-handling operations nationwide, raising the prospect that outside firms would load and inventory Tomahawk missiles, torpedoes and other powerful ammunition. The bidding effort is still in its early stages at a half-dozen bases, including the sprawling Naval Weapons Station in Seal Beach, which is the busiest munitions depot on the West Coast.

The county Board of Supervisors has proposed giving preference to firearms manufacturers that include trigger locks, child safety devices and other features when the county buys guns for the Sheriff's Department and other agencies. "There's a real opportunity to, if nothing else, get gun manufacturers to understand their responsibility to these consumers and their responsibility to these communities," said Supervisor Gloria Molina, who proposed the plan Tuesday.

One year after the Columbine High School shooting, newly energized gun-control forces are grappling with a potentially critical split within their ranks over a key strategic decision: How far can they hope to go in reining in guns? For all the recent talk of "smart" guns, trigger locks and other innovations in weapons safety, an increasingly vocal minority in the gun-control community is arguing that nothing short of a ban on handguns will stem gun violence.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the mayors of Atlanta, Detroit and Miami on Saturday directed their law enforcement agencies to give preference to Smith & Wesson when buying guns and called on municipal leaders nationwide to follow suit.