Senate OKs 1-Per-Month Handgun Purchase Limit

SACRAMENTO — The state Senate gave narrow approval Tuesday to a gun control bill that would make it a crime for Californians to buy more than one handgun a month.

The bill by Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) would limit citizens to the purchase of one revolver, pistol, derringer or other concealable firearm every 30 days.

If the bill (SB 513) became law, Hayden told the Senate during the upper chamber’s first gun control fight of the year, “a gun-loving household of three could actually obtain 30 or 40 weapons a year with no particular difficulties.”

He said the measure is intended to fight what he called a “gray or black market” in which a person can legally purchase multiple handguns and resell them at a profit to criminals.

Hayden indicated that such purchases can be a problem in California. He said that in a recent 10-month period, 245 individuals in Los Angeles and Orange counties legally purchased 12 or more handguns--84 by a single person.

Violators of Hayden’s bill would be subject to misdemeanor fines and jail terms. The bill would not apply to police, licensed dealers, collectors and security guards.

The measure was approved on a 21-16 vote, the bare simple majority required. It now moves to the Assembly. In the lower chamber, a similar plan by Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles) is pending in the Appropriations Committee.

Republican Gov. Pete Wilson has not taken a position on the Hayden bill, a spokesman said. GOP Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren is “neutral” on it, an assistant said.

In the Senate, Hayden’s bill was supported by 19 Democrats, one Republican, Sen. Bruce McPherson of Santa Cruz, and an independent, Sen. Quentin Kopp of San Francisco. The remainder of the Republicans and Sen. Steve Peace (D-El Cajon) voted no.

During the debate, Hayden said other states such as Virginia and Maryland had enacted laws limiting handgun sales to one per month as a means of blocking so-called “straw man” sales of guns. Typically such a sale involves the legal purchase of a gun which is then resold to a minor.

But Sen. Jim Brulte (R-Rancho Cucamonga) said the practical effect of the bill would be to penalize law-abiding Californians. He said criminals “won’t care about this law any more than they care about any other law.”

The measure also drew criticism from Peace, the author of a statute that makes it illegal to buy a handgun with the intention of reselling it. “The specific concern that the ‘One Gun a Month Club’ attempts to address is already addressed,” he said.

Peace and other critics contended that states that limit handgun purchases to one per month do not have a waiting period for gun purchases, nor do they require that resales go through a licensed dealer. California has a 10-day waiting period and all sales must be conducted by a dealer.

The bill was sponsored by Handgun Control Inc. and supported by the California Police Chiefs Assn. and the California Nurses Assn. It was opposed by various gun owner organizations.