This Could Be the Year for Killing Off Junk Guns

To be precise, handguns themselves do not kill people, but the ready availability of cheap guns known as Saturday night specials results in hundreds, if not thousands, of needless deaths in California each year. Many children are among the victims of criminals and others wielding these wretched little weapons. According to the state Department of Health Services, more California children are killed by handguns than by car crashes, disease or drugs. And the state Police Chiefs Assn. says that the junk guns, costing as little as $35, are the weapons of choice among young criminals, in part because they are so inexpensive and easy to get.

That will change if the Legislature passes a bill, SB 500, sponsored by Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) and if the measure is then signed into law by Gov. Pete Wilson. The measure would ban the manufacture or sale of Saturday night specials as they are defined in long-standing federal legislation that bars their importation from other countries. So far, the governor has not announced a public position on SB 500 or a similar bill, AB 488, sponsored by Assemblyman Louis Caldera (D-Los Angeles).

After successive failures of such bills over the years, there is now a significant prospect for passage. The Polanco bill has passed the Senate and now is before the full Assembly after winning approval of the Assembly Appropriations Committee this week on a vote of 11 to 7.

Earlier this year, the 80-member Assembly passed the Caldera measure, 41 to 34, although it contains several tough and broad provisions not included in Polanco’s measure. Caldera’s bill remains in committee in the Senate, where its prospects are uncertain.

The Assembly should pass the Polanco bill and the governor should sign it at the first opportunity. This would not benefit just California. The rest of the nation would be grateful as well because an estimated 80% of Saturday night specials sold in the United States are made in Southern California.

Such a law, of course, would not prevent criminals from getting weapons. However, it assuredly would save an untold number of innocent Californians, including children and police officers. California will be criminally negligent if it allows the trafficking in these cheap, deadly weapons to proceed unchecked.