L.A.'s armed for self-defense // Post-riot gun sales climb 63%

Haya El Nasser;Jonathan T. Lovitt

06/05/1992

USA Today

FINAL

Page 03A

LOS ANGELES - The minute the riots erupted, college student Young Park

rushed to buy a semiautomatic pistol.

The riots ended more than a month ago. But Park, 23, is still packing a Smith &

Wesson .22-caliber - at all times.

That's illegal, but not uncommon in a city police fear is becoming an armed

camp.

The three-day orgy of arson and looting sent citizens on a gun-buying spree:

more than 46,000 guns sold since the April 29 riots through May 22.

That's more than a 63% jump from the same period last year, says the California

Department of Justice.

The self-defense frenzy is causing many to cross the line of legality. And that's

making law enforcement very nervous.

``You can have that gun in your business, in your home,'' says Los Angeles

Police Lt. John Dunkin. ``What you cannot do is carry it around loaded in your

car, you can't carry it in your purse or on your belt.''

But people like Park would rather take their chances with police than with

criminals.

``Unless it's on you, it's useless,'' he says. ``I'm not worried about the police.

They're not around when you need them.''

Jim Farley, 37, of Valencia - which wasn't touched by rioting - has been

practicing firing his .38-caliber revolver.

``I think the riots are just the beginning,'' he says. ``The next big riots will be

after an earthquake. ... I will be prepared.''

Police empathize - to a point - with those who feel safer with a gun at their side.

``I think there would be an awful temptation (to carry a gun) if you bought a gun

to defend yourself,'' Dunkin says.

But police say that by arming themselves, people are just making a bad situation

worse.

Weapons - even those obtained legally - often wind up in the hands of criminals,

Dunkin says, because handguns are a favorite booty of burglars.

Anti-gun activists say more guns mean more violence.

``People have the illusion that a handgun is going to make them safe when ... it's

going to endanger their lives,'' says Jeff Muchnick of the Coalition to Stop Gun

Violence.

Muchnick cites a 1990 FBI report that showed there were 215 justifiable

homicides by handgun vs. more than 11,000 other handgun homicides that year.

A study in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that for every self-

defense handgun killing, there are 43 other deaths by gun.

Since the riots, federal agents have tried to recover at least 5,000 guns and an

undetermined amount of ammunition stolen from gun stores.

In the week after the riots, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms made

21 raids - but seized only 80 guns despite calls flooding the new 800-

ATF-GUNS tips hot line.

``In the wake of two successive record-setting years for homicide, it's

discouraging that there are even more guns in the hands of criminals,'' says

Sheriff's Deputy Bill Wehner.

Dunkin cautions against citizens arming themselves: ``You go out and buy a gun,

you put it in the nightstand drawer and maybe you go out and shoot five or six

rounds every once in a while. That burglar is gonna take that gun away from you

and kill you with it.''

But at The Firing Line, an indoor shooting range in Northridge, Saturday classes

have been booked for the past three weeks and Sunday classes had to be added.

``I have no one to protect me,'' says 5-foot-tall Cinzia Morelli, 28, a Sherman

Oaks secretary firing a .357 Magnum for the first time. ``If someone comes into

my house uninvited, they're dead.''

CUTLINE:AT FIRING RANGE: Jim Farley, shooting a .38-caliber pistol, says

`the riots are just the beginning. The next big riots will be after an earthquake. ...

I will be prepared.'

PHOTO;b/w,Mark J. Terrill,AP