[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 106 (Thursday, July 18, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8302-S8303]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CALIFORNIA CITIES FIGHT JUNK GUNS

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, earlier this year, I introduced 
legislation to prohibit the sale and manufacture of Junk Guns, or as 
they are also called, Saturday Night Specials. The importation of these 
cheap, easily concealable, and unsafe weapons has been prohibited since 
1968, but their domestic production continues to soar.
  In 1995, eight of the ten firearms most frequently traced at crime 
scenes were junk guns. These guns are the criminals' choice, and we 
must act now to get them out of our schools and our communities. 
Nationwide, gun violence is now the second leading cause of death of 
among children. In California, gun violence is number one. For the sake 
of our children, we must pass the Junk Gun Violence Protection Act.
  My bill has received strong support from California's law enforcement 
leaders. The California Police Chiefs Association has endorsed my bill 
along with more than two dozen individual police chiefs and sheriffs 
representing some of California's largest cities and counties.
  Today, I want to report on an extraordinary event that occurred last 
week in Oakland. On July 8, the mayors of 15 cities in California's 
East Bay joined together and pledged to get junk guns off the streets 
of their communities. These mayors said that they were frustrated by 
the 104th Congress' unwillingness to enact the common sense reforms 
that my bill would make. Although they acknowledge that Federal 
legislation would be more effective than local ordinances, they have 
decided not to wait until Washington gets the message that these guns 
must be taken off our streets.
  The cities of West Hollywood, San Francisco, Oakland, and Alameda 
have already passed ordinances to ban the sales of junk guns. More than 
a dozen municipalities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties are 
expected to follow soon. When junk guns are banned in these East Bay 
communities, it will create the largest junk gun-free zone in the 
country.
  The courageous actions taken by these East Bay mayors provides real 
momentum to the movement to ban junk guns nationwide. I commend these 
communities for their leadership, and once again, I urge my colleagues 
to support S. 1654, the Junk Gun Violence Protection Act.
  I ask that the following articles be printed in the Record.
  The articles follow:

               [From the Oakland Tribune, July 18, 1996]

        Alameda Joins East Bay Cities in Shooting Down Junk Guns

                         (By Kathleen Kirkwood)

       Alameda.--The City Council has joined other East Bay cities 
     in approving an ordinance banning the sale of junk guns; the 
     so-called Saturday night specials.
       The ordinance is patterned after a similar law in West 
     Hollywood, now facing a court challenge on the grounds it is 
     preempted by state regulations.
       Several gun owners appealed to the Alameda council Tuesday 
     to reject the law, saying it was a sham and couldn't be 
     enforced because of overriding state law. Even if it were 
     imposed, it couldn't stem the tide of gun-related crimes 
     anyway, Herb Leong of San Francisco said.
       ``I don't believe this is a law that's worth your effort,'' 
     Leong said. ``What we need to do is change people. We can't 
     change what they do by taking away a tool.''
       Local gun dealer James Figone said he doesn't sell junk 
     guns, which are usually cheap and unreliable. But he said the 
     city would be infringing on constitutional rights to bear 
     arms.
       ``The whole point of these laws is to take guns out of the 
     public's hands,'' Figone said.
       Figone and others also criticized the ordinance's lack of a 
     specific list of which guns would be targeted.
       Instead, it states that the police chief will issue a list 
     of firearms, at a future date, that meets the description of 
     guns to be banned.
       Generally, they're defined as cheap, poorly-manufactured, 
     short-barreled handguns, Police Chief Barry Matthews said.
       Matthews passed around five junk guns to council members 
     that had been confiscated by Alameda police, calling them 
     ``garbage'' weapons and ``messengers of death.''
       He said it was hard to tell what effect the junk gun ban 
     would have if imposed in Alameda.
       ``There will be a difference--to what degree I can't say,'' 
     Matthews said.
       In 1993, he said, junk handguns accounted for 8 out of 10 
     firearms most frequently confiscated by police in California. 
     An estimated 90 percent of such guns available in the United 
     States are manufactured in California. Import of such guns 
     into the United States is already banned.

[[Page S8303]]

       The mayors and police chiefs of 21 cities in the East Bay 
     are backing the ordinance, hoping to send a signal to 
     legislators.
       ``Maybe it won't stop smuggling or crime,'' Mayor Ralph 
     Appezzato said. ``Symbolic? Maybe, maybe not. But we've got 
     to try.''
       Alameda was among seven cities along the I-880 corridor to 
     approve or at least study the junk gun ordinance ban in the 
     first reading of the law this week.
       Oakland and Berkeley have given the ban approval on a 
     second reading, which is required for final passage.
                                                                    ____


              Region Takes the Lead to Corral `Junk Guns'

       The new push by Bay Area civic leader's to take ``junk 
     guns'' out of circulation probably won't take the weapons off 
     the streets altogether. But it is likely to have some 
     success. And it stands as a powerful statement by those who 
     lead our local governments: We've had enough, and we're going 
     to work together, as a region, to solve this problem.
       ``We are standing together, and sending a message that no 
     matter where you live, in what city or county, violence is 
     there and we need to do something about it,'' said Berkeley 
     Mayor Shidey Dean, chairwoman of the East Bay Public Safety 
     Corridor Partnership.
       The partnership, the largest regional approach to fighting 
     junk guns in the nation, encompasses Fremont, Newark, Union 
     City, Hayward, San Leandro, Alameda, Berkeley, Oakland, 
     Piedmont, Albany, Emeryville, El Cerrito, Richmond, San Pablo 
     and Pinole. Dean wants other cities to join.
       San Francisco and Alameda County have already outlawed the 
     weapons, and San Jose is considering a ban.
       The regional approach is being taken up by Bay Area 
     politicians who have given up on the federal and state 
     governments. ``Politicians on the state and federal level, 
     quite frankly, are afraid of the gun lobby,'' said Oakland 
     Mayor Elihu Harris.
       Junk guns, also known as Saturday night specials, are, 
     generally speaking, poorly constructed and therefore less 
     safe. They also are less expensive to buy. More technical 
     definitions will be refined by those who write the local 
     ordinances banning them. Suffice it to say, junk guns are 
     easy to get and dangerous to use. They are used by gangs and 
     considered status symbols.


                           bay area homicides

       People are dropping like flies in the Bay Area because of 
     the availability of guns. Between 1991 and 1993, six out of 
     every eight homicides in Alameda County involved a firearm, 
     according to the Alameda County Injury Prevention program. 
     Homicide rates were highest for those between 20 and 24.
       If this push is going to succeed, other cities are going to 
     have to climb on board. Several are considering gun bans. We 
     urge them to follow through.
       At least one East Bay civic leader, Dublin Mayor Guy 
     Houston, wants no part of the regional gun ban. Using 
     rhetoric that sounds as though it were written for him by the 
     National Rifle Association, Houston eschews a ban on 
     murderous weapons and says tougher penalties are the solution 
     to the gun problem. The ``Three Strikes, You're Out'' law is 
     taking care of the problem, Houston says.
       Tougher penalties are fine, but by themselves they have not 
     done the job. More is needed. At least Houston didn't utter 
     the old NRA line, ``Guns don't kill people; people kill 
     people.'' That's true; people do kill people--with guns. 
     Fewer guns, fewer deaths.

                          ____________________