Another Gain Against Gun Crime

A gun club has fired a blank in challenging California’s first local ban on some handgun sales. The action had been considered a key court test of such local ordinances.

Last week Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Horowitz threw out a lawsuit against West Hollywood’s ban on the sale of cheap handguns known as Saturday night specials. The California Rifle and Pistol Assn. Inc., which brought the suit, had argued that the 1996 ordinance was invalid because state regulation of guns preempted local laws of this kind. Horowitz disagreed. Lawyers for the firearm association said they will appeal.

The ban, which makes it a misdemeanor to sell Saturday night specials in West Hollywood, is as much symbol as substance. Only one commercial gun dealer was operating within that city when the ordinance was passed earlier this year, and the law does not cover private-party sales.

The symbolism of last week’s ruling is equally powerful. In September, the Los Angeles City Council passed a similar ordinance on handgun sales. The council’s unanimous move followed passage of bans on handgun sales or limits on ammunition sales in Sierra Madre, Inglewood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Pasadena and many other cities within the last two years. Surely this is evidence of widespread, grass-roots support for efforts to help control gun violence by restricting access to guns and bullets.

The state’s preemptive authority over local regulation of firearms is implied rather than directly expressed. Stronger local gun laws will not end gun violence, but if a local law makes it even a bit harder to lay hands on a cheap pistol, then it is worthwhile. Perhaps more decisions like the one supporting the West Hollywood handgun law will change a few minds in Sacramento.