Article last updated:
Wednesday, February 16, 2000 4:21 AM MST
Oakland Council passes small handgun sales ban
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."
