BUYING GUN TO BE HARDER CALIFORNIA TOUGHENS PROCESS.

Byline: Rochelle Kaplan Special to the Daily News

Retail gun stores and firearms instructors have been preparing for the New Year by getting more familiar with the California Department of Justice.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2003, anyone purchasing a handgun in California will be required to obtain a Handgun Safety Certificate (HSC), issued by the DOJ after taking a prescribed class, and passing a proficiency test offered by a certified firearms instructor.

No longer will a hunting license or the old Basic Firearms Safety Certificate (BFSC, implemented in 1994) be valid to purchase a handgun, nor will the old exemptions (e.g. current military) apply. In fact, everyone other than current law enforcement, authorized reserve law enforcement and Carrying Concealed Weapons (CCW) holders will be required to take a class in order to get the new HSC.

Exactly what the classes will entail has not been released by the DOJ, which is frustrating to firearms instructors.

``We don't have any idea of what the required hours of the class will be or what the test questions will be and whether or not live fire will be required,'' said Derek Fong, an NRA- certified firearms instructor and the youth coordinator for the Santa Clarita Valley Chapter of Quail Unlimited. ``They (DOJ) keep saying live fire will be required, but we still don't know.''

The old BFSC required only a 45-minute lecture, a 20-minute video and a 40-question multiple-choice test. No practical test was required, and the certificate was good indefinitely. Fong, who just received his DOJ instructor certification card in the mail this week, thinks the HSC class and test will probably be longer than the BFSC, especially if it includes a practical portion on the range. Although he was told by the DOJ that he'd receive class materials by the end of November, he said the DOJ is under no obligation to get class curriculum to instructors until Jan. 1.

The only things guaranteed are that the course will cost $30 and the certification will be good for five years.

The law not only affects handgun purchases but also those who sell them.

Anyone selling a handgun will have to make sure the buyer is completely familiar with the gun they're purchasing, including loading and unloading. In the case of a semi-automatic pistol, the purchaser must be able to pull back the slide to a locked position. Only the purchase of handguns, not rifles and shotguns, is affected.

``I think the politicians are downright ignorant about trying to reduce the number of handguns on the street,'' said Gene Lumsden, vice president of operations for Turner's Outdoorsman stores. ``By doing this, they're going after law-abiding citizens when they should be going after criminals with illegal guns. Some (of our customers) are going to be skittish about being fingerprinted by the government and think, `You know, I'm just not going to buy a handgun because it's too much of a problem.' ''

Linus Beals, a salesman in the firearms department at Turner's Outdoorsman in Reseda, got his DOJ certification recently and doesn't see a problem with the HSC.

``I'm all for it, and I'm pro gun,'' Beals said. ``They should have people who want to purchase handguns learn gun safety.''

Last weekend, Fong had 40 students enrolled in his hunter safety course, 25 to 30 more than usual. Although he thinks many signed up because they want to get their hunting licenses in order to buy handguns before the end of the year, only three admitted to being in the class for that reason. Lumsden thinks as many as 98 percent of consumers don't even know ``this is coming down.''