From: WIENER.GCS@pc.gcs.litton.com (WIENER, DAN x3708) To: firearms-alert@shell.portal.com (wiener) Subject: MEDIA: CA: lots of publicity Date: Mon, 10 Apr 95 18:04 Over the weekend the Los Angeles Times ran an excellent story about the Palmdale CCW rally, and ran an column in its Sunday editorial section attacking its own anti-gun position. The chain of Ventura Star newspapers ran a collection of stories on CCW permits. And the Los Angeles Daily News published Mike Royko's Chicago Tribune column which showed the importance of self-defense. Excerpts are printed below. My summaries and explanations are in brackets; everything else is verbatim. --[L.A. Times 4/9/95 Palmdale story]-- CONCEALED WEAPONS BILL HAILED AT RALLY Proposal to allow residents to carry handguns is promoted at a gathering of about 500 Antelope Valley residents. . . "Our founding fathers left three boxes for us," said Dewey White, 39, vice president of the Antelope Valley Republican Assembly, which sponsored the event. "The ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box." . . Many in the crowd wore National Rifle Assn. baseball caps and cheered loudly as five speakers spent 90 minutes promoting Knight's measure, Assembly Bill 638. The bill would allow any resident at least 21 years old to obtain a concealed weapons permit unless good cause for denial -- such as a history of criminal activity or mental illness -- could be shown by a governing agency. Knight said his bill, scheduled for consideration by an Assembly committee April 18, will cause criminals to think twice before they rob or attack because their targeted victim may be armed. . . The opening speech at the rally was delivered by Jeff Storm, a Palmdale resident who was critically injured 18 months ago when he was shot twice by an intruder in his home. He said the incident turned him from a "marginal" gun-rights advocate to a full supporter. "The only thing that kept him from finishing us off after he reloaded his pistol is because I had a 15-year-old son who had the wherewithal to go back into my bedroom and get my gun, and become a threat himself," he said. Storm compared current efforts to tighten gun laws to Hitler's disarming of citizens before World War II. "If a few of the Jews had been armed, I don't think 6 million of them would have died in gas chambers," he said. One controversial speaker who found a receptive audience was Simi Valley Councilwoman Sandi Webb, who recently called William Masters II a "hero" for fatally shooting a teen-age graffiti tagger he said had threatened him. She also suggested police carry rock salt to shoot at other taggers and admitted she sometimes carries a concealed gun when she drives to Los Angeles. Like Storm, Webb told the crowd she was a crime victim who had resolved never to be taken advantage of again. She said that an intruder raped her in her home 20 years ago in San Bernardino and that she intends to protect herself and her daughter "at all costs." "If I could wave a magic wand and all of the weapons in the world would disappear, the world still wouldn't be safe, because the man who raped me didn't have a gun", she said. "All he had were his fists." [Other speakers not quoted in the article included the NRA's California grass-roots coordinator Ed Worley, and John Stoos from the California Republican Assembly. Pete Knight gave a pitch for his bill, and answered a number of questions. Knight is not the world's most dynamic speaker, but of course he didn't have to be for this crowd. Several questioners expressed concerns about various portions of AB638, but everyone agreed it was a giant leap forward from the status quo.] --[L.A. Times 4/9/95 column in editorial section]-- [The footnote about the authors said: "Duncan Barnes is the editor of Field & Stream; Vin T. Sparano is the editor of Outdoor Life. Both magazines are owned by Times Mirror, which also publishes the Los Angeles Times. The views here are those of the authors' two publications."] PERSPECTIVE ON GUN CONTROL: SHOOTING HOLES IN PROPAGANDA The news media campaign to ban handguns won't solve anything; laws to make ownership safer will. The Los Angeles Times, among other leading urban newspapers, has called repeatedly for a ban on handguns -- a call that is neither realistic nor appropriate... Seldom has so much illogic been applied to a single issue. For example: 'If we outlaw handguns, the will eventually disappear from our society.' Did the Volstead Act dry up our beer supply? Did the 55 mph speed limit cause us to drive slower? Has any drug law ever made a significant difference? . . The news media's ignorance of guns is abysmal, but that doesn't stop them from throwing gasoline on the flames of the debate over firearms laws. [The authors then talk about the scaremongering over the Glock "plastic guns".] [They propose drastically increasing, and enforcing, penalties for armed crimes; building more prisons for violent criminals, and putting repeat-violent criminals to death; making handgun buyers pass a proficiency test; and establishing strict standards for gun storage. They urge an intensive grass-roots educational campaign.] --[Ventura Star 4/9/95 articles on county CCWs]-- [A series of articles takes up half of the front page, plus an entire inside page. There are color photos and graphs. The articles are "even-handed" in the usual media sense: For every pro-gun argument or quote there must be an anti-gun argument or quote. Overall the articles should have a positive effect, but they could easily have been much better written:] GUN-TOTING: A NEW WAY OF COUNTY LIFE? Self-Defense Act: 'Demand definitely there' for undercover guns for everyone [Tom Selleck is one of 243 Ventura county residents, out of over 700,000, who has a CCW... There's a description of the Monteith-Knight Citizen Self-Defense Act.] "There would be no way to weed out the people with the bad tempers," said Jami Shor, spokeswoman for Handgun Control, Inc. "You're going to have people walking down the street with a concealed, loaded weapon who might have had a bad day. That is why this is so dangerous." . . Much of the criticism is aimed at the current law, which some say is mired in cronyism. Permit holders are typically older men who are friends with the police chief or sheriff, Knight and Monteith argue, citing a study by the National Rifle Association. The profile fits in Ventura County, where more than half of those with permits are over 50, most are white, and only 16 are women. [Examples are given of individuals who either have permits or were denied permits. Sandi Webb's recent history is recounted, and she comments on the (few) permits that are issued to businessmen who have to transport cash:] "I have real problems with them saying you need huge sums of money to get a permit," Webb said. "As if my daughter isn't as precious." [Sheriff Larry Carpenter refused to return calls about AB638, but his undersheriff says:] "He's a strong believer in people having the opportunity to protect their lives and property. He certainly would not come out in opposition to a bill like this." [The article closes with the Santa Paula Police Chief, the acting Simi Valley Police Chief (recruitment is underway for a new Chief), and the Oxnard Police Chief all attacking Knight's bill.] [There are several sidebar and related stories, and some "man- on-the-street" quotes (3 out of 4 against guns). Handgun Control disputes the Florida statistics: Jami Shor claims the 1991 homicide decrease doesn't take into consideration the state's adoption that year of a mandatory waiting period and background checks. From the other side of her mouth, she says that attacks against tourists in Florida are on the rise because criminals can be sure these targets won't be carrying guns. Then she tops it all off by citing the University of Maryland study.] --[Chicago Tribune columnist Mike Royko in 4/9/95 Daily News]-- [Royko sort of attacks both sides for one-sidedness. He tells the story of a Richmond, Virginia jewelry store shootout where the owner and his employees all had guns within easy rich, and were able to kill two very dangerous career criminals.] The owner of the store said he doesn't believe in being passive when someone threatens his life with a sawed-off shotgun. There are those who would disagree. Don't fight back and you won't get hurt is their approach. But that's no longer a safe bet, if it ever was. Today, punks with guns take the money, then kill their victims just to see how it feels. So if the police can't protect people from murderers, who will? That jewelry store owner knew. He and his employees were on their own, as most of us are. It's not a simple subject. ### - Dan Wiener (wiener@pc.gcs.litton.com)