Posted on 03/22/2004 3:13:55 PM PST by B4Ranch
Board takes up ban on gun sales Law would prohibit selling high-powered rifles in unincorporated areas
By Tamara Grippi, STAFF WRITER
MARTINEZ -- High-powered rifles are the target of a new ordinance that will be introduced by the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors at their meeting Tuesday.
The proposed law would prohibit the sale of .50-caliber rifles in unincorporated areas of the county.
Supervisors John Gioia of Richmond and Gayle Uilkema of Lafayette, who are recommend-ing the ordinance, say the ban is intended as a public safety measure.
Telecommunications towers, industrial plants such as oil refineries and railroad cars could all be vulnerable to serious damage from the high-powered rifles, said Uilkema.
"Guns of that magnitude of .50-caliber have the capability of potentially harming or destroy-ing any of those facilities," Uilkema said.
Unincorporated Contra Costa has only two gun dealerships and neither one sells .50-caliber rifles.
The supervisors said they hope the ban on .50-caliber rifle sales could be used as a "model ordinance" and adopted by various Contra Costa cities.
Gioia said nothing is stopping customers from asking gun dealers to order .50-caliber rifles.
"Theoretically, yes," said Chuck Michel of the California Rifle and Pistol Association. "But they haven't."
Michel didn't buy the supervisors' argument that the ban would further homeland security. "A .50-caliber rifle is a pea shooter for a terrorist. The real problem is not the gun, it's the ammunition. If you use explosive ammunition, it doesn't matter what the caliber is."
Such explosive, armor-piercing ammunition is already illegal.
Several gun control organizations, including the San Francisco-based Legal Community Against Violence, are backing the ordinance.
"This is a class of dangerous and deadly weapons specifically designed for military use and urban combat," said Sam Hoover, staff attorney for the Legal Community Against Violence.
Michel disagrees. "The message that legitimate hunters and target shooters get from this is that 'you don't count' and that 'we don't care about your sport,'" he said.
The California Rifle and Pistol Association plans to sue the county if it approves the ban on the basis that it contradicts state law, which has drawn the line at .60-caliber rifles, Michel said.
The California Penal Code prohibits the possession of "destructive devices," which include weapons capable of firing ammunition .60-caliber or larger.
The county supervisors, however, hope Contra Costa will be one of the forces to persuade the state to adopt tougher legislation.
Similar proposals are already in the pipeline.
Legislation proposed by Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, would make it unlawful to manufacture, sell or possess a .50-caliber rifle within California without a permit.
That bill was approved by the state Assembly last year but failed to make it past the state Senate's Public Safety Committee. The legislation has been placed before that committee for reconsideration but no hearing has been scheduled.
Stay Safe !
Soooo, you'll be much deader than you would be if shot with a .45?
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