State Senate Vote on Gun Bill Delayed : Roberti Agrees to Surprise Appeal From Deukmejian

SACRAMENTO — State Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti agreed to a surprise appeal by Gov. George Deukmejian on Thursday and delayed what was expected to be final legislative approval of a bill to outlaw a wide array of military-style assault guns in California.

Deukmejian, whose denunciation of the type of semiautomatic weapon that killed five schoolchildren in Stockton on Jan. 17 helped pave the way for advancement of the gun ban bill, asked for more time to review the measure and perhaps suggest amendments before it reaches his desk.

Appearing stunned and puzzled, Roberti said he acceded to the highly unusual request because to do otherwise would risk a Deukmejian veto and perhaps torpedo more than six months of efforts by law enforcement officials to craft a bill outlawing semiautomatic combat firearms.

Significance Unclear

The long-range significance of the delay was not immediately clear, although it certainly slowed the bill’s momentum. The legislation had barreled through both houses in the wake of the Stockton murders and had drawn national attention to what supporters view as a growing citizen revulsion toward the easily available combat-style arms.

A spokeswoman for the National Rifle Assn., which had taken an unaccustomed thumping in the Legislature, welcomed the postponement, asserting that it would give the organization more time to lobby against the bill.

But Deukmejian cautioned in a statement that “no one should misinterpret my request . . . as a change of my position concerning a possible ban of military assault weapons.”

“My position is the same,” he insisted. “I am receptive to legislation banning military assault weapons provided that the bill does not create uncertainty or confusion and does not ban guns used by sportsmen.”

Call From Governor

Roberti first received Deukmejian’s plea for a delay in a telephone call from the governor Wednesday evening. At Roberti’s request, the governor followed it up with a formal letter Thursday morning.

Deukmejian made the request after having met late Wednesday afternoon with a group of six Republicans opposed to both the bill by Roberti (D-Los Angeles) and a nearly identical proposal by Assemblyman Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles).

“We urged him to veto the (Roberti) bill,” Senate Republican caucus chairman John Doolittle said Thursday. “We used every argument we had to that end. We pointed out some things that he wasn’t aware of. He made no commitment to us at all.”

Among those attending the session was former Sen. H.L. Richardson (R-Glendora), who for two decades was the Legislature’s most outspoken opponent of gun controls and the founder of Gun Owners of California, a political action committee.

In brief, the highly publicized anti-assault gun bills would make it a felony to import, manufacture, sell, lend or possess without a special permit about 60 rifles, shotguns and pistols identified by manufacturer and model as “assault weapons.”

Residents who legally owned such guns by June 1 could keep them by registering the weapons with the state Department of Justice. Additionally, the legislation would impose new sentences on crimes committed with assault guns.

At a press conference, Roberti, Roos and Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp--a strong supporter of the legislation and a Democratic contender for governor next year--wondered aloud whether the Republicans had influenced Deukmejian’s action.

But Kevin Brett, press secretary to the governor, described the two events as coincidence and said the GOP opponents of the bill had no influence on the decision to ask for a delay. He said the meeting had been scheduled for about a week.

“Regardless of the meeting, the governor would have taken the same action,” Brett said.

Deukmejian, whose staff had been kept aware of developments as the bills sped through the legislative process, said he had believed that the measures were headed for a Senate-Assembly conference committee where their relatively minor differences would be resolved.

Roberti and Roos, however, in recent days had talked less and less about putting the bills into a negotiating conference, fearing that such an action might jeopardize enactment of a final measure because it would have faced a further, very risky vote in the Assembly. Roberti’s bill had cleared the Assembly without a vote to spare on Monday.

Roberti announced at mid-afternoon Wednesday that he would seek final passage of his bill in the Senate on Thursday. The plan was to assign the Roos measure to a conference committee for use as a contingency measure to later “clean up” any flaws in the Roberti legislation, assuming it was signed into law.

Deukmejian told Roberti in the letter that it had been his “intention to offer my observations and any suggested amendments” to the conference committee. However, he said Roberti’s decision to seek a final Senate vote on Thursday caught him unawares and so he was asking for the delay to study the “complete version” of the bill.

“That reason and no other prompted me to make my request,” Deukmejian said. “I am prepared to sign a measure banning these dangerous weapons, but it must be a well-crafted bill.”

Van de Kamp said he found it “unique and a little bit incredible” that Deukmejian would seek more time, asserting that the “governor and his staff have had ample opportunity to have participated in the development of this bill.”

“Knowing that the National Rifle Assn. will use whatever delay there is to put pressure on legislators as well as the governor to change their minds on this issue, I call on the overwhelming majority of Californians who are in support of this measure to make their voice known to Gov. Deukmejian,” the attorney general said.

Roberti, while careful not to criticize Deukmejian, said he would discuss any concerns that the governor might have, but “we are not in the concessions mood” and “we are not watering the bill down.”

“This bill has been analyzed substantively, legally, ballistically and grammatically,” he said. “I have never carried a bill that has been so analyzed and read.”

Roos expressed hope that Deukmejian was not now abandoning the “courage” he showed by declaring his opposition to assault firearms two days after the Stockton incident. Since then, Roos noted, the governor has charted the path for the Legislature to follow by publicly discussing the kind of bill he would sign or veto.

A longtime opponent of imposing new controls on guns, Deukmejian attracted national attention in January when he shifted his position and said he saw no legitimate sporting use for AK-47s, Uzis and other arms designed for warfare.

The shift was credited, in large part by Roos and Roberti, for battering down barriers in an election-conscious Legislature that historically has rejected major gun controls.

Roberti said the governor indicated he will advise him of his position on the bill early next week.

Meanwhile, in a rather anticlimactic action, the Senate passed the Roos bill Thursday on a 26-11 vote and returned it to the Assembly, where the author said he will put it into conference.

Van de Kamp and some legislators said they could not recall a previous occasion when a governor had abruptly acted at the last minute to head off final passage of a bill that he supported.

Others, however, recalled that in 1967, then-Gov. Ronald Reagan unexpectedly raised 11th-hour objections to final passage of California’s pioneering bill to liberalize abortion. Later in the day, he reconsidered and agreed to sign the measure.