West Hollywood Issues List of Banned Handguns

West Hollywood officials issued a list Thursday of more than 40 handguns that cannot be sold in the city’s pawnshops and gun stores.

Earlier this year, the West Hollywood City Council passed the first ordinance by a California city banning the sale of so-called “Saturday night specials”--the name given to some handguns that are small, inexpensive and often made from inferior materials. The city postponed enforcing the ordinance, however, until it had compiled a list of pistols that fit the city’s definition of a Saturday night special.

Many of the pistols that qualify as Saturday night specials are manufactured by seven companies located in Southern California.

The city hired a gun expert as a consultant to help compile the list, said Nancy Greenstein, West Hollywood’s public safety administrator.

Violators of the city law face fines of up to $1,000 and six months in prison.

Greenstein will oversee the policing of the city’s gun stores and pawnbrokers that sell weapons. She has coordinated the training of some city staffers who will monitor stores where weapons are sold and ensure that the ordinance is being followed.

All appeals to the city’s list of banned weapons will be considered first by Greenstein, with final appeals decided by the city’s Public Safety Commission.