Sunday, December 21, 2008

Los Angeles passes more gun control ordinances

From the Los Angeles Times:
The Los Angeles City Council approved a package of gun control laws Wednesday, placing new requirements on ammunition sellers and banning the sale of military-style ammunition in the hopes of further reducing the city's gun and gang violence.

The measures ban the sale of .50-caliber ammunition, capable of penetrating a car's engine, and would require the city's ammunition vendors to be licensed, to sell ammunition face-to-face instead of over the Internet and require gun dealers to report a full accounting of their inventory twice a year to the Police Department.

The council passed laws prohibiting the installation of secret compartments for guns in cars and allowing the city to permanently seize vehicles used by certain gang members during a crime, which was proposed by City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo.

The council also approved an ordinance that would allow landlords to evict tenants who are convicted of illegally possessing weapons or ammunition within 1,000 feet of the rental property.

A lawyer for the National Rifle Assn. said his client probably would file suit to block some of the measures.

Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who helped develop the ordinances with Councilman Jack Weiss and other members, praised the package at a news conference before the vote.

"We use this to stop a vehicle," Bratton said, holding up a .50-caliber bullet longer and thicker than a finger. "Unless you are out trying to kill Godzilla, and I think the last time we saw Godzilla was in the 1950s, there is no need for this type of weapon" unless it is in the hands of the military or law enforcement, he said. [emphasis added]

Read the rest here. And just what the heck is "military-style ammunition", anyway? Such terms are likely part and parcel of the mainstream media effort to demonize guns. Indeed, if they are referring to the .50 BMG, I doubt many, if any, gang-bangers are using guns chambered for that round in their drive-by shootings, or armed robberies, or murders of ordinary citizens.

Maybe we should start referring to pens owned by mainstream journalists as "commie-style writing instruments"? Except they might take that as a compliment.

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