WEAPONS BUFFS FEAR BACKLASH.

Byline: Eric Wahlgren Daily News Staff Writer

Not only were the two North Hollywood bank robbers a couple of vicious whackos, they made law-abiding gun enthusiasts look bad, said John Wilcox, one of many weapons aficionados who flocked to a gun show at the Pomona Fairplex over the weekend.

The duo's wild attack on the San Fernando Valley neighborhood using AK-47 automatic rifles has already led to a push for bans on additional weapons and could further scale back the sale of recreational guns, he said.

``How often do you have crazy people running around on the streets like this dressed in full body armor and shooting everything up?'' said Wilcox, a 30-year-old mechanic at the Guns/Knife/Collectors show.

``They are ruining it for the rest of us,'' added the Ontario resident, who owns a shotgun and rifle for hunting and target practice. ``You are going to have your left-wing, liberal-type people saying we need to ban all sorts of things.''

Wilcox and others, who browsed the booths displaying everything from AR-15 semiautomatic rifles to GI Joe dolls, pointed out that automatic rifles are already illegal in California.

Banning additional guns would not stop criminals from getting their hands on illegal assault-style weapons since they are readily available on the black market, many showgoers said.

Ken Elmore, a gun dealer based in Arizona, said people can buy an AK-47 in his home state provided that they pass a federal background check and pay a special $200 tax.

``You can't avoid it,'' Elmore said. ``Bad people will manage to get these guns.''

Echoing the comments of many officials across Los Angeles, Elmore said police officers were outgunned by the North Hollywood robbers and that better access to semiautomatic rifles would help law enforcement better protect citizens.

``If the police had had rifles in the trunks of their cars, they would have ended (the shootout) a lot faster,'' he said.

AR-15 semiautomatic rifles at one stand were selling for between $800 and $1,600, but one salesman said a criminal could buy a more dangerous machine gun on the black market for only $200.

``If I were a bank robber, this would be the last place that I would be,'' said Greg Needham, owner of Mac Attack, referring to the gun show.

A 1989 state law banned the sale of more than 50 specific types of semiautomatic riles, pistols and shotguns, but some rifles and other guns resembling the illegal weapons can still be bought legally in gun shops.

Gun enthusiasts said further gun bans would not stop outlaws from getting firepower and would punish law-abiding residents who use weapons for hunting, target practice or self-protection.

``If you ban all the guns, all the criminals will still have the guns anyway,'' said one showgoer, who asked only to be identified as Bob, a 42-year-old from Pomona. ``It's not the gun that kills, but the person that kills.''

Those attending the gun show also criticized calls by some local officials to consider a ban on body armor, which the two North Hollywood robbers used to protect themselves against police officers, who were initially armed with 9 mm pistols and pump shotguns.

Some argued bank presidents and other prominent members of society would lose a valuable source of protection against snipers if a new law allowed only law enforcement officials to use body armor.

And Richard Leforge, a private bail enforcement officer, said not being able to use the armor would put his colleagues and security guards at risk.

``We would not qualify for it since we don't fall under law enforcement,'' Leforge said. ``It would put our lives in danger.''

One gun salesman, who asked not to be identified, said the only way to deter gun use among criminals would be to make firing a weapon for a criminal reason a capital offense.

``If you fire it, endangering the safety of other people, I'm sorry, that should be it,'' the salesman said.

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Photo

PHOTO These AR-15s at the Pomona gun fair are the same models LAPD officers took from a gun shop.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News