CHIEF SAYS HANDGUN BAN COULD WORK.Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer A proposed ban in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. on the sale of cheap handguns known as Saturday Night Specials Saturday Night Special A slang term used to refer to a surprise takeover attempt. Notes: The term alludes to the fact that many takeover bids are announced over the weekend in order to avoid too much publicity. could be enforced with existing resources, Police Chief Willie L. Williams Willie L. Williams (born 1 October, 1943) was chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) from 1992 to 1997, taking over after chief Daryl Gates' resignation following the 1992 Los Angeles riots. says in a report to the Police Commission. Williams' report, which will be considered by the commission Tuesday, said a ban patterned after one in West Hollywood West Hollywood A community of southern California northeast of Beverly Hills. It is mainly residential. Population: 36,600. could work in Los Angeles. The City Attorney's Office, at the request of City Council members, is drafting a measure that would ban Saturday Night Specials on grounds that they are disproportionately involved in crime. The ordinance drafted by Assistant City Attorney Henry Morris defines design specifications, including breech breech (brech) the buttocks. breech n. The lower rear portion of the human trunk; the buttocks. breech, britch the buttocks of an animal; the backs of the thighs. pressures, of Saturday Night Specials. But Morris said Friday that his office is working with the LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. to use the technical specifications and produce a list, banning handguns by brand and model, to make enforcement easier. Morris asserted that the ordinance would be constitutional because ``it does not violate any of the provisions of the state or federal constitutions and we do not believe it is pre-empted by state law.'' ``It's very much a public-safety issue,'' he said. ``It's a matter of addressing an extremely salient problem in society which is the use of these weapons in illegal acts.'' But Steve Helsley, state liaison for the National Rifle Association National Rifle Association (NRA) Governing organization for the sport of shooting with rifles and pistols. It was founded in Britain in 1860. The U.S. organization, formed in 1871, has a membership of some four million. Both the British and the U.S. , said the city is pre-empted by state and federal law from regulating gun sales. ``The judicious thing to do would be to wait to see what happens with the lawsuit against West Hollywood,'' Helsley said. Capt. Marlin Warkentin said the new ordinance will not require significant new resources to enforce. Warkentin heads the LAPD's gun unit, which already does periodic inspections of all businesses licensed to sell handguns. The unit's detectives can easily add to their task the job of making sure cheap handguns, as defined by the ordinance, are not being sold. ``My gun unit inspects the gun dealers annually already. It's just one more additional thing we can do,'' he said. |
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