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Oakland Tribune

FROM STAFF REPORTS

OAKLAND -- A ban on sales of small handguns, along with two other precedent-setting gun laws, were approved Tuesday night by the Oakland City Council, with other Bay Area cities expected to follow.

Oakland and San Francisco are sponsoring joint laws on guns, hoping to eliminate high-quality compact weapons that aren't already banned by junk gun laws.

Oakland's council also approved two other ordinances to bar minors and felons from entering gun stores. The same three laws will be considered by San Francisco in March.

Both cities are bracing for lawsuits from the National Rifle Association, which has already warned they will take it to the courts.

Oakland Vice Mayor Henry Chang Jr., who introduced the laws, said gun manufacturers are getting around junk gun laws with small, sophisticated handguns.

The law would affect ultra compact weapons, no less than 63/4inches in length and 41/2inches in height.

Representatives of the Oakland League of Women Voters and Youth Alive turned out in support Tuesday night for the new laws.

Meanwhile, the Berkeley City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to have the city attorney draft a law to prohibit the sale of easily concealable handguns.

Mayor Shirley Dean, who proposed the measure, will work closely with state Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, and other mayors and elected officials from the East Bay on a proposed state ballot initiative that requires the licensing and registration of all handguns.

The council voted after City Manager Jim Keene, to show how easily small handguns can be concealed, displayed a 22-caliber Beretta handgun that could have been mistaken for a toy.

"I can completely cover it with one hand," Keene said. "It looks like a toy gun but it has an eight-clip magazine and another bullet in the chamber."