City Explores New Restrictions for Gun Owners

Gun owners would be required to store their firearms in locked containers or disable them with trigger locks under an ordinance expected to come up before the Los Angeles City Council today.

The measure was authored by Councilman Paul Krekorian and five other council members. It was advocated by Women Against Gun Violence and other anti- gun violence activists as a necessary precaution against weapons falling into the hands of children who may unintentionally fire the weapon on themselves or others around them.

The proposed law will first be considered in the Public Safety Committee, which is expected to advance it to the full 15-member City Council for a vote later this morning.

The vote comes after the proposed law appeared to hit a roadblock earlier this summer when the Los Angeles police officers union asked the Public Safety Committee to include amendments exempting reserve or retired law enforcement officials.

The measure’s author, Councilman Paul Krekorian, along with others who originally proposed the law, balked at the suggested exemptions and pushed to get the issue out of committee so that other council members could also weigh in on the issue.

Krekorian now expects to present a revised ordinance that clarifies the language and gives leeway for those who carry guns on their person, according Krekorian spokesman Ian Thompson.

This version mirrors language used in Sunnyvale, rather than San Francisco, which had been the initial model for the law, Thompson said.

Krekorian said in a statement that each year, “thousands of children are unintentionally killed or injured by handguns that aren’t stored properly in people’s homes.”

If the law passes, it would serve as “an example that other cities, states and Congress should follow,” Krekorian said.

The law is being voted on a week after the council adopted another gun measure making Los Angeles the biggest city in California to ban the possession of so-called “high-capacity” ammunition magazines with more than 10 rounds. An amendment to that law exempting retired law enforcement officers with valid permits to carry concealed weapons is also scheduled to be considered by the Public Safety Committee and potentially the City Council today.

City News Service; Photo: Shutterstock