Posted on 11/09/2005 7:00:49 AM PST by Mr. Mojo
True to their left-leaning reputation, San Francisco voters decided by a wide margin to ban the possession of handguns within city limits.
Proposition H makes it illegal for residents to keep handguns in their homes or businesses and prohibits the manufacture and sale of all firearms and ammunition in San Francisco. The City’s new ordinance will be the strictest in the nation, since it requires existing guns to be turned in to law enforcement officials by April 1. Law enforcement personnel and others who require weapons for work are exempt from the measure.
Supervisor Chris Daly, the author of the ballot measure, said the law was needed to reduce the number of guns in a city plagued by gun violence, with 88 homicides so far this year, about 60 percent of them by handguns, according to officials. Fewer guns in The City, according to Daly, means fewer guns for criminals to get their hands on.
“This is sensible gun control,” Daly said. “Prop. H isn’t going to solve violence in San Francisco, but it’s one part that we can do to get a handle on this epidemic of violence, most of it handgun-related.”
A coalition of organizations opposed to Prop. H, led by the National Rifle Association, have vowed they’ll be in court today to begin their legal challenge to San Francisco’s new law, arguing that cities do not have the authority to regulate firearms under California law.
“If you ban firearms, the criminals will have them and the law-abiding citizens won’t,” said Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. “San Francisco will be a magnet for crimes.”
Gottlieb said he was involved in the legal effort that took down a 1982 measure banning guns in San Francisco, which was signed into law by then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein.
Daly said the new proposition was carefully crafted to avoid the same legal traps that allowed the courts to reject The City’s first gun measure.
Only two other major U.S. cities — Washington in 1976 and Chicago in 1982 — have implemented similar handgun bans. Unlike San Francisco’s ordinance, however, both cities permitted residents to keep guns owned when the ordinance went into effect.
Can't wait until the inevitable public employee, mayor's staff, famous resident, or some John Q. Citizen that still has a brain, and a gun stops a murder or a rape.......
Guaranteed. Just the way they do in Paris.
A subsequent upsurge in gun crime by gang members, or a lack of diminution of same should result in an announcement that the Authorities were not diligent enough in their confications. SWAT teams will then raid a series of Citizens who are known to still have guns or the police will bring their own evidence to selected citizens' homes.
If I lived their I would file a lawsuit, even knowing it would have to go thru the 9th Circuit, and all the way to the Supremes.
No more criminals showing up on the doorstep asking to borrow guns. What a Utopia!
At least that is what they will probably say.
Because the DemoSocialistMarxistLeftistLib's are all about telling the sheeple what they think they want to hear.
Democracy: the right to vote away your freedom. The right to sacrifice your principles in favor of expedience, which is the definition of liberalism.
No worries here; I'm not a resident of SF city or county. The law doesn't apply to me.
I am going to set up a booth in Golden Gate Park selling cross bows and heavy duty sling shots.
I believe that was just the holster..I think the gun ran for $675.
Amazing that they will not ban anal sex that kills more people in that city every year than guns.
Wow that thing is a beaut. (Will Smith voice from "Independence Day") - "I have got to get me one of these!"
>>California reelects Gray Davis, bans handguns statewide, raises taxes on evil rich, mandates free healthcare
pg 35 story--"U-Haul unable to keep up with moving van demand as citizens flee California"
They picked April Fools day. Perfect.
They are all coming to Fresno............one of the main reasons for the inflated prices of homes.
Reason # 1324 not to live in San Francisco.
In a year or two, they'll wish they only had 88 homicides.
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