shooterx10
September 9, 2003, 02:44 PM
NBC 4
Assembly Passes Bill Requiring New Handgun Devices
Device Makes Guns Impossible To Fire
POSTED: 12:38 p.m. PDT September 5, 2003
LOS ANGELES -- Attempting to reduce accidental handgun shootings in California, the state Assembly has passed a bill requiring new safety designs in semiautomatic handguns sold in the state after 2006 and 2007.
The bill requires gun manufacturers to add indicators that show if there is a bullet in the chamber, or make it impossible to fire if the ammunition magazine is not inserted in the gun.
The measure would require manufacturers to add one of the options by Jan. 1, 2006, and both options a year later. Without the new designs, semiautomatic handguns would be ineligible for sale in California, one of the country's largest gun markets. :cuss:
"We believe this measure will change the way guns are manufactured nationwide," said Eric Gorovitz, policy director of the Washington, D.C.-based Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, which sponsored the bill.
Like gun bills in previous years, the legislation passed Thursday provoked a stormy debate between the Assembly's urban and coastal gun control advocates and other members from small towns and rural areas who maintained that gun owners are overly regulated.
Backers called it the nation's first bill to require both design changes and cited studies that the devices could prevent 24 percent of accidental shootings. It was carried by Sen. Jack Scott, D-Altadena, who lost a son to an accidental shooting
But Assembly opponents, largely Republicans, disagreed, saying it will make guns more dangerous as owners rely on devices that can fail. "It's really simple why we're doing this. We're doing this because the (Democratic) majority doesn't like guns," said Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta.
The Assembly, voting 41-33, sent the bill back to the Senate for agreement to minor changes made in the bill. It must also be signed by Gov. Gray Davis to become law.
The bill, which does not apply to handguns used by police officers, required two votes before it passed.
A legislative analysis of the bills says 11 percent of semiautomatic handguns sold nationally have chamber load indicators while 14 percent have devices that make it impossible to fire when the magazine is removed.
"If you can add relatively cheap safety devices to guns to prevent accidental shootings, why wouldn't we want to do that?" asked Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. "Where is the burden on the legitimate gun owner?"
But opponents called it needless meddling in the lives of legal gun owners, and criticized legislators such as Steinberg, who acknowledged under questioning that he doesn't own a gun.
"Here you've got a guy who has never owned a gun and he wants to tell us what to do," said Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, R-Monrovia.
The remark prompted a Democratic lawmaker's quip later in the debate about conservatives who don't have uteruses voting on women's' issues.
"Where I grew up as a child it was a little different," said Assemblyman Ken Maddox, R-Garden Grove. "We were taught to treat every gun as a loaded gun. My family has owned dozens of firearms and never had a problem because every gun was a loaded gun."
Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Here is the link. (http://www.nbc4.tv/news/2459400/detail.html)
Assembly Passes Bill Requiring New Handgun Devices
Device Makes Guns Impossible To Fire
POSTED: 12:38 p.m. PDT September 5, 2003
LOS ANGELES -- Attempting to reduce accidental handgun shootings in California, the state Assembly has passed a bill requiring new safety designs in semiautomatic handguns sold in the state after 2006 and 2007.
The bill requires gun manufacturers to add indicators that show if there is a bullet in the chamber, or make it impossible to fire if the ammunition magazine is not inserted in the gun.
The measure would require manufacturers to add one of the options by Jan. 1, 2006, and both options a year later. Without the new designs, semiautomatic handguns would be ineligible for sale in California, one of the country's largest gun markets. :cuss:
"We believe this measure will change the way guns are manufactured nationwide," said Eric Gorovitz, policy director of the Washington, D.C.-based Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, which sponsored the bill.
Like gun bills in previous years, the legislation passed Thursday provoked a stormy debate between the Assembly's urban and coastal gun control advocates and other members from small towns and rural areas who maintained that gun owners are overly regulated.
Backers called it the nation's first bill to require both design changes and cited studies that the devices could prevent 24 percent of accidental shootings. It was carried by Sen. Jack Scott, D-Altadena, who lost a son to an accidental shooting
But Assembly opponents, largely Republicans, disagreed, saying it will make guns more dangerous as owners rely on devices that can fail. "It's really simple why we're doing this. We're doing this because the (Democratic) majority doesn't like guns," said Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta.
The Assembly, voting 41-33, sent the bill back to the Senate for agreement to minor changes made in the bill. It must also be signed by Gov. Gray Davis to become law.
The bill, which does not apply to handguns used by police officers, required two votes before it passed.
A legislative analysis of the bills says 11 percent of semiautomatic handguns sold nationally have chamber load indicators while 14 percent have devices that make it impossible to fire when the magazine is removed.
"If you can add relatively cheap safety devices to guns to prevent accidental shootings, why wouldn't we want to do that?" asked Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. "Where is the burden on the legitimate gun owner?"
But opponents called it needless meddling in the lives of legal gun owners, and criticized legislators such as Steinberg, who acknowledged under questioning that he doesn't own a gun.
"Here you've got a guy who has never owned a gun and he wants to tell us what to do," said Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, R-Monrovia.
The remark prompted a Democratic lawmaker's quip later in the debate about conservatives who don't have uteruses voting on women's' issues.
"Where I grew up as a child it was a little different," said Assemblyman Ken Maddox, R-Garden Grove. "We were taught to treat every gun as a loaded gun. My family has owned dozens of firearms and never had a problem because every gun was a loaded gun."
Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Here is the link. (http://www.nbc4.tv/news/2459400/detail.html)