Foes Take Aim at Plan to Repeal Weapons Ban : Gun control: Gingrich bid to end law blocking assault-style arms draws protest in Orange County.

By DAVID REYES

Dec. 12, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

LAGUNA HILLS — Orange County supporters of a federal ban on assault weapons joined a nationwide protest Monday against House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s vow to hold a vote in Congress to repeal the ban this year.

Tracy Pellman, a trustee for the Ocean View School District, said that as a parent and working nurse, she is wary of “slick politicians” who advocate a pro-family theme yet plan to back Gingrich in his effort to end the ban that was approved in 1994.

“Can these politicians explain how having more assault weapons is regarded as pro-child and pro-family?” Pellman asked. “You have a choice, pro-guns or pro-life.”

Pellman joined about 15 people at a news conference in the offices of attorney Charles L. Blek Jr. Supporters represented organizations including Physicians for Social Responsibility, Orange County Citizens for the Prevention of Gun Violence and the League of Women Voters.

“The issue is simple,” Blek said. “You have large corporate profits on one side versus injuries, irreparable harm and death on the other.”

Blek’s son Matthew, 21, was fatally shot while working in New York last year by a robber with a cheap handgun, which are commonly called Saturday night specials. Blek and his wife, Mary Leigh, have formed Orange County Citizens for the Prevention of Gun Violence and have been active in trying to organize support in Orange County for gun control.

Blek said he called the news conference to bring the issue to the attention of county residents after he was contacted by the Washington-based Handgun Control Inc., which called for a nationwide protest against the Gingrich plan.

Gun control forces are worried that with Gingrich’s vow to bring the matter to a vote by the House of Representatives before the end of the year, no hearings will be held on the merits of the 1994 law that bans the possession and sale of 19 types of semiautomatic assault weapons. Gingrich and other foes of gun control believe the ban on assault weapons is an infringement on what they maintain is a constitutional right to bear arms.

“We know that three out of every four people in the United States want this ban to remain in force,” Blek said, referring to polls taken by Handgun Control Inc. “We cannot have elected officials violating that trust.”

With Gingrich’s strength, organizers said they believe such a repeal measure would carry in the House but have problems winning passage in the Senate. President Clinton has said he would veto such a repeal if it reaches his desk.

Although Blek said the protest was nonpartisan, the group did include a letter from Jim Toledano of the Orange County Democratic Party opposing Gingrich’s plan and mentioned that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) had sent them a fax indicating her position against repeal of the ban and would stage the “mother of all filibusters” in the Senate, if necessary.

Blek acknowledged that Gingrich would probably get support from Orange County’s congressional delegation, whose members are all Republican.

Scott J. Weissman, a third-year medical student at UC Irvine who represented a student chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, said he attended the news conference because future health professionals such as himself believe that a repeal will only mean more deaths and injuries.

“The proliferation of these weapons,” Weissman said, “would only serve to bring injuries of ever greater severity into the nation’s emergency rooms and draw vital resources away from other health-care necessities.