Shooting Spree Gives Boost To Gun Legislation

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Shooting Spree Gives Boost To Gun LegislationGun Control Bills 'Time Out' Coming To An EndPosted: 5:19 p.m. PDT September 10, 2001Updated: 6:21 p.m. PDT September 10, 2001SACRAMENTO -- The Sacramento gun violence involving security guard Joe Ferguson that left five people dead is giving a boost to new gun control legislation that appears headed to the governor's desk. "It just reinforces the need. Unfortunately, there' s just too much gun violence," Democratic Assembly speaker Bob Herzberg, said. "Here, you've got officers with handguns going into a gunfight with an individual with an AK-47," Sacramento County Sheriff Lou Blanas said. There's been an unofficial time out on gun control bills ever since Governor Gray Davis signed a package of measures in 1999 requiring trigger locks, limiting handgun sales to one a month, and outlawing the sale of cheap so-called Saturday night specials. But that timeout is coming to an end. "The governor's office never says, you know, 'I will sign this bill.' But my indications are that the governor will be supportive after we've taken these amendments," Assemblyman Kevin Shelley, D-San Francisco, said. Shelley is author of a bill that's been scaled back from a full-licensing proposal to requiring safety testing and thumbprints for purchasers. "I think that use of a thumbprint, as a result of these new bills and ensuring that there's an appropriate background check, where thumbprints don't lie, as opposed to fake I.D.s, I think that's a major step in the right direction," Shelley said. Republican Assemblyman Dick Dickerson of Redding points out that the new proposal would not have prevented the shooting spree this weekend since it deals with new gun sales and assumes that bad guys won't go underground to buy weaponry. But violence, he knows, generates momentum for legislation like Shelley's and a similar measure in the state Senate. "This is definitely feel-good legislation," Dickerson said. With some law enforcement groups now signaling their support, the betting is that either or both of the new gun bills will make it to the governor's desk before the week is out. Law enforcement said that Ferguson had an AK-47 assault rifle and a sawed-off shotgun as well as at least three handguns. Only the handguns would be affected by the proposed legislation. Copyright 2001 by TheKCRAChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.