Updated at 4:24 p.m.
Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian called today for a pair of proposed gun-related ordinances to be forced out of a council committee where, he says, they have languished.
Krekorian introduced two motions asking that a rarely used council rule be invoked so that the ordinances could be directly taken up by the full, 15- member City Council instead.
One ordinance would require handguns to be stored in locked containers or with the trigger lock on, and the other would prohibit possession of large- capacity ammunition magazines.
The handgun storage ordinance has been before the Public Safety Committee since last November, and the ammunition magazine ordinance has been pending since January 2013, according to Krekorian’s motions.
Krekorian said City Council members “need and deserve” the chance to “weigh in on” these “critical public safety measures.”
“Every day we wait to take action on these common-sense policies puts more people at risk of death or grave injury from gun violence,” he said.
Krekorian’s request are expected to be considered at a July 28 City Council meeting. If approved, the proposed gun ordinances would be withdrawn from the Public Safety Committee and discussed by the full council.
The Public Safety Committee last Friday delayed its consideration of the handgun storage ordinance, after the Los Angeles Police Protective League asked that retired and reserve officers also be exempt from the proposed law.
Under the current draft of the ordinance, police officers would already be exempt from having to keep their firearms locked away or trigger locked while at home.
Councilman Mitch Englander, chair of the Public Safety Committee, last week asked city attorneys to report back in a month with an ordinance that would also exempt people who have a permit to carry a concealed weapon, which may include police officers, judges, prosecutors and others.
Both gun ordinances were drafted based on motions authored by Krekorian. He has said a handgun storage law would prevent young children from inadvertently finding firearms around the house and harming themselves or others, while the ban on large-capacity ammunition magazines would help lower the number of casualties in — and likelihood of — mass shootings.
— City News Service