Even More Courage Needed

Which of the virtues, Boswell once asked Johnson, is greatest? Courage, the doctor replied, for without it one seldom comes to exercise the others.

So, now that the Legislature and Gov. George Deukmejian have found the courage to beat back the National Rifle Assn. and its fellow travelers by outlawing the sale of military-style assault weapons in California, perhaps they can exercise some other virtues--prudence, reason and responsibility, for example--in the cause of rational firearms regulation.

The Assembly can begin next week by passing AB 497 when it comes to the floor for a vote. This sensible measure, which is sponsored by Assemblyman Lloyd G. Connelly (D-Sacramento), proposes that the 15-day waiting period now interposed between the purchase of a handgun and its delivery be applied to all sales of all guns. The interval would allow the state’s Department of Justice to determine that the buyer is not a minor, a convicted felon or a person found mentally unstable under law. Connelly’s bill already has found bipartisan support in the Assembly’s Public Safety and Ways and Means committees. The full chamber now should demonstrate equal responsibility and send the bill on to the Senate, where it ought to be acted on with dispatch.

Gov. Deukmejian already has indicated he will sign the measure when it reaches his desk.

Next Tuesday, the Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee also will take up a pair of common-sensical firearms measures introduced by Democrat Johan Klehs of Castro Valley. One, AB 565, would outlaw the military-style semiautomatic shotguns many law enforcement officials fear will become the next deadly tool of choice among drug gangsters and mass murderers. No serious sportsman would have anything to do with these guns, which were designed as particularly inhumane instruments of crowd control. The most popular model, in fact, originated in South Africa. Klehs’ other measure, AB 565, would complement the existing ban on semiautomatic assault weapons by banning detachable magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds.

Both bills are opposed by the National Rifle Assn. and supported by decency and reason.