Council Votes to Outlaw Sale of Knives to Minors

Hoping to reduce injuries and deaths among youngsters, the Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to make it illegal to sell knives, blades or other stabbing weapons to anyone younger than 18.

If signed by Mayor Richard Riordan, as expected, the proposal would take effect in about a month. Under the proposal, any merchant who sold a stabbing weapon to a minor would be charged with a misdemeanor violation that carries a sentence of up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

As he presented his motion, Councilman Hal Bernson displayed three knives--including one with a five-inch blade and the words “Best Defense” etched on the leather sheath--that were purchased by a teen-ager at a Northridge liquor store and confiscated by a parent.

Bernson said he suggested the law partly because of increasing outbreaks of violence at Los Angeles schools. “Kids shouldn’t be running around with deadly weapons in school or out,” he said.

In the past five years, the number of weapons confiscated in and around city schools has gradually increased. In the 1988-89 school year, teachers and police confiscated 617 guns, knives and other weapons from young people in the Los Angeles Unified School District, according to district officials. That number increased in the 1992-93 school year to 714 weapons--362 knives, 153 guns and 199 other weapons--officials said.

School board member Mark Slavkin said he supports the law and applauds the council for tackling the problem.

The new law was unanimously supported by the City Council but not before it was amended to exempt gifts from parents, such as Boy Scout pocket knives and blades used by teen-agers to perform certain jobs.

For example, Councilman Richard Alarcon said that when he was a teen-ager he used a razor to open boxes when he worked as a box boy. He said he wanted to make sure the new law would allow teen-agers to buy knives for work.

Current law prohibits anyone from carrying in plain sight a knife with a blade that is three inches long or longer, except when it is used for work or recreation. Municipal law also prohibits minors under 18 from carrying or keeping guns.