New Los Angeles City firearms/ammo laws proposed

imported post

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/crime/la-me-safety9-2008dec09,0,6121377.story

L.A. council panel approves gun control measures The proposals would make it easier for landlords to evict tenants who illegally use guns. Ammunition vendors would have to get permits. Sales of .50-caliber ammunition would also be banned. By Maeve Reston
December 9, 2008 The Public Safety Committee of the Los Angeles City Council approved a package of gun control measures Monday that would make it easier for landlords to evict tenants with illegal firearms and ammunition, place new requirements on ammunition vendors and allow the city to permanently seize cars from some gang members.

The measures were introduced by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and Councilmen Greig Smith and Jack Weiss, a candidate for city attorney, in May as part of the mayor's antigang initiative.

• Nearly 1,000 residents turn in guns in Compton

Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton and City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo appeared at the news conference to show support for the efforts.

Delgadillo spoke in favor of the measure to seize vehicles used by gang members, which originated in his office according to his staff.

Under the eviction measure proposed by Weiss and council members Janice Hahn and Eric Garcetti, landlords could evict a tenant who illegally used guns or ammunition within 1,000 feet of a rental property.

The committee also approved measures requiring ammunition vendors to obtain permits from the Police Commission for sales and to conduct those sales face-to-face with buyers.

Under one of the proposed ordinances, the employees handling ammunition would also be subject to a background check.

Another measure creates a requirement for gun dealers to inspect their inventory twice a year -- reporting any lost or stolen weapons to the Police Department and providing an affidavit of the inspections.

The committee also approved an ordinance banning the sale of .50-caliber ammunition.

Rhonda Foster, whose 7-year-old son Evan was killed in Inglewood's Darby Park in 1997 by a gunman wielding an assault-style weapon, spoke in favor of the measure at the meeting.

No one spoke in opposition to the measures at Monday's committee meeting.

But Long Beach attorney C.D. Michel, the law partner of city attorney candidate Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich, wrote a letter to several of the committee members accusing Weiss of politicizing the issue to benefit his campaign for city attorney.

Michel, who wrote the letter on behalf of clients -- the National Rifle Assn. and the California Rifle and Pistol Assn. -- said the majority of the measures were "costly, naive and ineffective policy" -- arguing that a number of the proposals were likely to face legal challenge and that others were redundant because they address areas already covered by state law.

Weiss noted that lawyers for the city attorney believe the ordinances are legally defensible.

"I've prosecuted gun crimes as a federal prosecutor, and I'm proud that I've worked on gun legislation my entire time in the City Council. It's a sick industry, and this is the type of charge we expect from them," he said. .

Reston is a Times staff writer.

maeve.reston@latimes.com

[line]
The onslaught continues. At least Trutanich & Michel are on it. Hopefully pre-emption will do away with most of this, but, it's just another step backwards.

imported post

The fact that no opposition showed up to the council meeting speaks volumes. You can bet your arse that I'd be at the meeting if my city tried to pass this sort of nonsense. Perhaps LA gun owners deserve what they get for their apathy.

imported post

CA_Libertarian wrote:

The fact that no opposition showed up to the council meeting speaks volumes. You can bet your arse that I'd be at the meeting if my city tried to pass this sort of nonsense. Perhaps LA gun owners deserve what they get for their apathy.

Click to expand...

I wondered the same thing myself so I had to re-read the article. From what the article seems to indicate, this was a committee meeting not a full Council vote or final Council vote on the issue. Not being a resident of the City of L.A. I'm not aware of how their Public Safety Committee agendas are publicly "noticed"(pardon my improper English) or proposed ordinances wind their way through the system.

I'm hoping this forum exposure will help get the word out that this issue is working its way through the L.A. City Council. At the very least, if the City Council passes this, it won't work and will cost L.A. sales tax revenues and litigation costs(not to mention all the other issues involved). I guess they're rolling in dough. What a waste of everyone's time.

imported post

4armed Architect wrote:

At the very least, if the City Council passes this, it won't work and will cost L.A. sales tax revenues and litigation costs(not to mention all the other issues involved). I guess they're rolling in dough. What a waste of everyone's time.

Click to expand...

This is, in my opinion, the biggest flaw in our system. The government has too much revenue. They should be on such a tight budget that they wouldn't dare pass anything contraversial. In our current system, they just steal more of our hard-earned money to fight off lawsuits.

I don't know if it was a state-wide increase or just my county, but I know my sales tax went up 1/2 cent on the dollar. With our state in budget crisis, expect to see more money extorted out of your employer and out of your paycheck (if you're fortunate enough to still be employed).

imported post

CA_Libertarian wrote:

4armed Architect wrote:

At the very least, if the City Council passes this, it won't work and will cost L.A. sales tax revenues and litigation costs(not to mention all the other issues involved). I guess they're rolling in dough. What a waste of everyone's time.

Click to expand...

This is, in my opinion, the biggest flaw in our system. The government has too much revenue. They should be on such a tight budget that they wouldn't dare pass anything contraversial. In our current system, they just steal more of our hard-earned money to fight off lawsuits.

I don't know if it was a state-wide increase or just my county, but I know my sales tax went up 1/2 cent on the dollar. With our state in budget crisis, expect to see more money extorted out of your employer and out of your paycheck (if you're fortunate enough to still be employed).

Click to expand...

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-budget18-2008dec18,0,694239.story


Well CA Libertarian, you hit the nail on the head with that one. The Democrat- dominated, CA State Legislature has shown the ultimate disrespect of the CA citizens by circumventing the State Constitutional requirement which 2/3 majority in each chamber of the legislature to raise taxes. Today, they simply called the taxes "fees" and adopted the increases with simple majorities. I believe Arnold has/will veto this, but not because they are unconstitutional - but for other reasons(more research needed). Not sure if the legislature will try to "tweak" for Arnold's approval. This is more than extortion, this is conspiracy, under the color of law, to deprive citizens of their property.

Seems to me that they are sending a message to the citizens that obeying the law is not really that important... I wonder what the downstream ramifications of that will be?


Not wanting to hijack my own thread, the L.A. City Council, yesterday(17th), with very little public notice(I read about it after the fact), passed the Ordinance which was the topic of this thread - severe ammo and gun dealer restrictions served up as measures to help battle gangs and "gun violence". Here is the article:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-guns18-2008dec18,0,3132923.story

It seems that Trutanich & Michel(and the NRA) may take some action on this, but we should all realize that this is a sample of the major new tactic in gun control: Ammunition restrictions everywhere(Nationwide, not just CA) - in as many jurisdictions as possible. If they have not already begun to show up in "your" neighborhood, rest assured they will.

imported post

4armed Architect wrote:

...we should all realize that this is a sample of the major new tactic in gun control: Ammunition restrictions everywhere(Nationwide, not just CA) - in as many jurisdictions as possible. If they have not already begun to show up in "your" neighborhood, rest assured they will.

Click to expand...

I remember several years ago (maybe even a decade ago) hearing Pelosi (IIRC) openly declare this was a tactic she wanted to push on the national level. I can't find the quote right now, but it was something to the effect of: "If we can't make guns illegal, we'll just tax and regulate ammo out of existence."

Isn't that sort of like saying, "If we can't make free speech illegal, we'll just tax and regulate words out of existance."

Again, I am deeply saddened by the apathy and neglect the people of LA continue to show for their rights. Maybe we need things to get worse before people will stop letting stupid shit happen.

imported post

"It's a sick industry"??? And this from an attorney.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. - Matthew 23:27

-ljp

imported post

Good one, Legba.

...and here I was interested in carrying in LA. I don't live there, but still....

imported post

Legba wrote:

"It's a sick industry"??? And this from an attorney.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. - Matthew 23:27

-ljp

Click to expand...

Actually these victim disarming ammunition laws were pretty much done under the radar. Those in Los Angeles only hear of it by the time the so called representatives are ready to pass it. You can count on the media to not make a huge issue of it if at all. If they gave people a real chance at having a voice they would get smacked down more times than not. Their minds are made up, and so the decent people of Los Angeles leave.