Guns don't kill people, it's true. Bullets do.

[question everything]

latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cap21-2009sep21,0,5723271.column

latimes.com

Going after the real killers
A bill regulating sales of ammunition for handguns would save lives.

George Skelton
September 21, 2009



Guns don't kill people, it's true. Bullets do. "Without ammo, a handgun is only good for pistol-whipping someone," notes Assemblyman Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles). "Ammo is the lifeblood of a handgun." On Sept. 11, the last day of this year's regular legislative session, De Leon narrowly won final passage of a bill to regulate sales of handgun ammunition.

The assemblyman has a long list of gang shooting horror stories from his district, which stretches from Hollywood to the Alhambra city line and includes Echo Park, Lincoln Heights and part of East Los Angeles. Stray bullets from gang crossfire have killed a 9-year-old girl playing in the kitchen, a 14-year-old girl as she sat in the back seat of her family's SUV and a 4-year-old boy while walking with his sister outside their home. Plus there has been a barrel-load of gangbanger assassinations.

De Leon's bill, AB 962, would make it illegal to knowingly sell handgun ammunition to criminals. Strangely, De Leon says, it's against the law for criminals to possess ammo but not for someone to sell it to them knowing they are criminals. The bill also would prohibit hard-core gang members -- those under court injunction restrictions -- from possessing handgun bullets.

And -- the more controversial part -- it would require:

* Ammunition dealers to keep bullets out of easy reach of potential shoplifters, similar to cigarettes.
* Dealers to check a purchaser's identification, take a thumbprint and make the records available to local law enforcement. There'd be no waiting period before delivery of the ammo, as there is with firearms.
* Handgun owners to buy their bullets face-to-face from a licensed dealer. They could order through the Internet or by mail, but they'd have to pick up the ammo at a store, just as they now must when buying a gun.

Opponents -- Republican legislators and the gun lobby -- complained about inconveniencing law-abiding citizens.

(snip)

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not signaled a position on the bill. But he vetoed another version by a different author five years ago. In the veto message, Schwarzenegger pointed out that the federal government once had a similar law and concluded it "was simply unworkable and offered no public safety benefit." The federal law existed from shortly after Robert F. Kennedy's assassination in 1968 until President Reagan signed the repealer in 1986 -- a prehistoric era before the Internet and high-tech databases.

(snip)