HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 10221996 - D11 N
TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS �:SE;.L..
�,� 1 �� Contra
,FROM: SUPERVISOR JIM ROGERS '�- Costa
x� 4 County
DATE: October 17, 1996
T
SUBJECT: REQUEST TO CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE TO BAN "SATURDAY NIGHT
SPECIALS"
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
RECOMMENDATION:
CONSIDER action to be taken on the requests of the West Contra Costa County
Mayors Association and Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) that the
Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors ban the sale of Saturday Night Specials.
BACKGROUND:
Several local government organizations (including the West County Mayors
Association and ABAG) and numerous citizens have asked me to ask the Board of
Supervisors to ban the sale of Saturday Night Specials. (Possession is not banned).
Saturday Night Specials (also known as junk guns) are cheap, easily concealed and
poorly manufactured weapons that are routinely used in violent crimes and are not
useful for sporting purposes.
Many Contra Costa, East Bay and California cities have acted to ban these guns
(Alameda, Albany, Belmont, Berkeley, Compton, EI Cerrito, Emeryville, Hayward,
Inglewood, Los Angeles, Oakland, Pinole, Richmond, San Carlos, San Francisco,
San Jose, San Leandro, San Pablo, West Hollywood) as well as the counties of San
Mateo and Santa Cruz).
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE:
)
RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMI EE
APPROVE OTHER
SIGNATURE(S): .JIM ROGFRS
ACTION OF BOARD ON _ Getebef 221996 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED — OTHERX_
No persons being present who desired to present testimony, and
following Board discussion of the above matter, IT IS BY THE BOARD ORDERED
that County Counsel is DIRECTED to provide to the Board of Supervisors on
November 5 , 1996, a draft ordinance banning the sale of Saturday Night
Specials, and a report containing information on jurisdictions who have
already enacted such and ordinance and a discussion on the possibility
of joining _a legal defense pool with other jurisdictions for defense of
appeals under said ordinance.
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE
UNANIMOUS(ABSENT T T T TV ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN
AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD
ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN.
ATTESTED October 22 , 1996
- -- Contact: County Administrator PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF
cc: Health Services Director SUPERV ORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
� (Prevention Program)
County Counsel BY DEPUTY
r
There is litigation over a West Hollywood ban currently. Many local governments
believe that by promptly passing similar bans they can show the courts that large
and geographically diverse groups of cities and counties support banning Saturday
Night Specials.
The Legal Community Against Violence has volunteered legal services to defend
lawsuits challenging these bans. Further, several East Bay cities have created a
legal defense pool where each one contributes $5,000 which is used to defend the
first one sued.
If the Board of Supervisors wishes to ban the sale of Saturday Night Specials in
unincorporated areas of the County, I would suggest we join the pool. The Board of
Supervisors previously endorsed statewide legislation to ban Saturday Night
Specials. However, the Legislature adjourned without doing so.
I believe that by promptly banning the sale of these guns, we will make our County
safer and join with other local governments in letting the courts and the Legislature
know that our citizens are not satisfied with the status quo of cheap guns and cheap
lives.
-2-
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e Board.
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Name; gl L L 1v,4&61ojT A phones ?-99 -- 797q
Address:--L6-19-6 11 K oJdC S-f, Sys L A F A`/ETT E
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1 wish to speak on Agenda Item #2, / 1 pat /0 2Z- 96
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to consider:
SEE A77'AcNj5P ZZ -rTeR,
W. P . Maggiora
3606 Brook St .
Lafayette , Calif . 94549
Contra Costa County Supervisors 22 October 1996
651 Pine St.
Martinez, CA 94553 Subject: Junk Guns Ordinance
Dear Supervisors :
Now that the county is considering the "Junk Guns " Sales
Ban that many other jurisdictions have adopted, I urge you to
request answers to the following definitive questions that
have never been answered on this subject :
1 . Can your legal council do a computer search for product
liability suits over guns that have failed due to guns
being "cheaply made , inadequately designed, or poorly
manufactured" , and cite some examples?
2 . Can the staff identify any examples of guns that have
caused injury due to being "cheaply made, inadequately
designed, and poorly manufactured" ?
3 . Can your staff develop a definition of a "Junk gun" that
is clear enough to be applied without requiring
" interpretation" by some non-elected official .
4 . Can your staff develop clear criteria that must be met
for a successful appeal of classification of a gun as a
"Junk gun" .
5 . Can your legal council cite any part of the proposed
ordinance which would prevent any or all of the kinds of
guns normally used as duty handguns by the various law
enforcement agencies in the county, including the
Sheriff ' s Department , from being classified as "Junk
guns " and retained as approved duty guns?
6 . If the staff feels that the number of gunshot fatalities
to children age 10-14 is relevant , please ask them to
provide data for each year over a ten year period of
total number of deaths both for 10-14 year olds and for
all ages in the county due to all causes , due to
injuries and due to gunshot wounds . This would provide
perspective on the figures .
Thank you for your efforts to get a better understanding
of the subject .
Sincerely : � Al
Bill Maggiora, P . E . (mechanical )
( 510-284-7874 )
Request to Speak Form
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Name: Richard Graham Phone: 510-757-2193
Address: 407 Harlow Dr. City: Antioch, Ca. 94509
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I wish to speak on Agenda Item#0-1 ll, Date: October 22, 1996.
My comments will be: general for against_X_.
I wish to speak on the subject of
Junk Guns Ban
I do not wish to speak but leave these comments for the Board to Consider:
I am unable to appear in person as I will be out of the state on this date. I am
however totally opposed to any further regulation or attempted regulation of the
firearms industry by this ultra liberal renegade board. You have violated the state
Firearms Preemption Law and will be sued dust like West Hollywood.
LCAV have offered the bait of"pro bono" work cities and counties when they
break the law, but have lined their pockets with tax payer's money and cities like
Lafayette have run up a big bill for legal fees even with the "pro bono" work. Our
attorney, Don B. Kates will sue you as soon as the decision on West Hollywood
comes down in the next 30 days. It would be best for you to find other things to
concern yourselves with. The firearms you are labeling junk guns are actually not
junk at all but low cost personal protection that poor people can afford.
You discriminate against the poor's ability and right to self defense. Why do
you hate the people so much?
SPEAKERS
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representative of an organization.
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•
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(The Chair may limit length of presentations so all persons may be heard).
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to consider. Z * - /(
Good evening. My name is Eric Williams and I'm a resident of an
unincorporated area of the county. I'm a software engineer, a
certified firearms instructor, and I hold an 832-PC certificate. I
oppose this ordinance because what it does and what it says it does
are two different things.
In the interest of time, I'll use just the first of the three criteria for a
"junk gun" in the ordinance as an example: That the barrel, slide, and
frame of the gun be made entirely out of steel or steel alloy. Under
this criteria, the following guns would be banned by this ordinance:
Smith and Wesson models 3913, 4006, 4516, 5903, 5904, 6904,
6906, and 6946 semi-autos. These are popular with many police
departments in the Bay Area. I recently sat in on the Berkeley PD's
retraining sessions where their officers were introduced to their new
model 4006 standard-issue sidearms. All of the above models have
aluminum frames and would be considered "junk guns" under the
proposed ordinance. Also included would be the model 38 Centenial
Airweight, a small revolver with an aluminum frame popular with
detectives and police chiefs who do not normally wear uniforms.
Glock models 17, 19, 21 , 22, 23, 26, and 27 — The Glock is the
standard issue sidearm of the Austrian Army and has been accepted
for service in over 3,500 local, state and federal law-enforcement
agencies in the U.S, including the New York City PD. It has a plastic
frame and would be considered a "junk gun" under this ordinance.
r
Ruger models P-89, P-90, P-91 , P-93, and P-94 — All these have
plastic frames. Smith & Wesson Sigma series — These also have
plastic frames and one model was recently torture-tested by a gun
magazine with a 100,000-round shooting marathon.
Para Ordinance P12, P13, P14 and P16. Colt Lightweight
Commander. — These all have aluminum frames.
SIG/Sauer models P220, P225, P226, P228, P229 — The SIG P228
was selected by the US Armed Services as the standard-issue
compact sidearm. The P220 is the sidearm of the Japanese national
police. SIGs are considered the Cadillac of handguns by many
experts and are beyond the financial reach of most shooters at over
$800. They all have aluminum frames and would be considered
"junk".
Baretta models 92D, 92FS, and 98FS — The 92FS was selected by
the US Armed Services as the standard-issue full-sized sidearm of
our military, and was selected by the San Francisco PD when they
recently upgraded from revolvers. It has an aluminum frame.
Heckler and Koch USP and SOCOM — The SOCOM was specially-
developed for the US Armed Forces Special Operations groups, such
as the Navy SEALs. I wish I could tell you how expensive it is, but it
is not available to civilians. It has an aluminum frame.
These are just a few of the hundreds of models of top-quality
handguns that will be slapped with the label "junk gun" under this one
criteria, and the other criteria in the ordinance are equally overbroad.
.i
The Sheriff could ban any one of them, and he would be insulated
from his own actions if he did so since the ordinance excludes law-
enforcement officers from its effects. This begs the question of how,
if these guns are so unsafe, we can possibly justify allowing officers
to carry these supposedly unsafe and unreliable firearms? Their
lives and ours may depend on the relibility of those sidearms, more
likely so than civilians, and it is the ultimate example of "Do as I say,
not as I do" legislation to include such an exception in this ordinance.
On the other hand, the Sheriff may address you later tonight and
promise you that he would not add such guns to the list, they are not
what he would consider "junk". That is precisely my point: That the
criteria in this ordinance has absolutely nothing to do with its stated
goal, that of eliminating poorly-made, unreliable, and unsafe
handguns. If this ordinance is so broadly-written that just about any
gun, including some of the best in the world, can be mislabeled as
"junk", then this ordinance is really nothing more than a blank check
for the county to ban any handgun it happens to take a dislike to. If
that is the case, then the public has a right to know, and you have a
responsibility both to tell us and to justify it.
r
61 `/
Resolution 11-96
ASSOCIATION OF DAY AREA GOVERNMENTS
EXECUTIVE BOARD
RESOLUTION SUPPORTING THE BAN OF"SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIALS"
WHEREAS,"Saturday Night Specials",or junk guns,are cheap,easily-
concealed, and poorly-manufactured weapons that are disproportionately represented in
homicides and other crimes and lack any sporting purpose;
WHEREAS,junk guns are so inadequately designed and constructed that their
use,particularly with higher-power ammunition now readily-available,represents a
danger to the criminal or other user;
WHEREAS,crime statistics indicate that a high proportion of gun-related deaths
and injuries are attributable to both the availability of weapons in residential areas and the
lack of trigger locks which could forestall the firing of a weapon;
WHEREAS,many local governments in the Bay Area are considering or have
already adopted ordinances or regulations prohibiting the sale of junk guns,zoning gun
shops out of residential areas,and requiting gun dealers to install trigger locks at the
point of sale;
WHEREAS,crime respects no urban boundaries and the availability of weapons
in one jurisdiction way easily be used in a neighboring or distant community;
NOW,THEREFORE,BE IT RESOLVED that the Executive Board of the
Association of Bay Area Governments supports the adoption of local government
ordinances to prohibit the sale of junk guns,to zone gun dealers out of residential areas,
and to require gun dealers to install trigger locks at the point of sale.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Executive Board urges all Bay Area
local governments to guarantee the effectiveness of these ordinances by working in close
consultation with neighboring jurisdictions to develop consistent and uniform ordinance
provisions and enforcement procedures.
PASSED AND ADOPTED this 18th day of July, 1996.
SIGNED:
Clialotte Powers,President Eu Y.Leo , ecretary-Tre lj�rer
10/10/1996 12:46 4154333357 L C A V PAGE 03
C-0 C ej Ono
Similarly, a challenge based on equal protection, claiming that the tax is baked
Capon an inappropriate classification, can generally be overcorne if the to,:aiity can
demonstrate a reasonable basis for taxing one activity while not taxing others. Fox
Bakersfield Theatre Corp-, (1550) 36 Cai. 2d at 142; Weekes y City of Oakkmd (19781)
21 .Cal. 3d 386, 396. An inappropriate classification has altematively been described as
one which is "capricious, arta trary and discriminatory." City of Los Angeles v. Shell Oil
Go. (1971) 4 Cai, 3d 198, 123, citing Security Tfuck Urte ✓. C� of h",orttarey (59 3)
117 Cal. Am 2d 441, 454.
R. RESTRICTIONS ON SALES,
1. Saturday Ni of$ ecials
a. Policy goats �
As part of the Gun Control Act of 1568, the federal government banned the
iIl'itJE),I.►ot, n of "Saturday Night. Special ?A/ dy rade eansilyr concealable--,I
inexpensive handguns such as the one used in the murder of Robert Kennedy,
Cong!nss did not, however, ban the domestic manufacture, sale or possession of
Saturday Night Speciais_
In 1993, Saturday Night Specials accounted for eight out of every 10 guns
confiscated by poli--- it% Califernia.54 The greater Los Angeles area is home to six
firearms manufacturers known as the `Ring of Fire' companies.65 Those cormpaNes
produce 80% of all Saturday Might Specials manufactured in the nation and 34`X0 of all
American-made handguns.56 According to data supplied by the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms, nearly 700,000 Saturday Night Specials were produced in
California in 1992 alone.57 Seven of the ton most frequently traced guns nationwide in
1994 were manufactured by the Ring of Fire companies_55
54 See supra note 8(citing EDK Aegoclate6 Pot)_
55 G.J.Wntemute,Violence Preventkm Research Program, RkV of Fire.The Handgun Makers of SaLlhem �
CaAtfomla(t694}.
to
57 ;
Zpwity-Bureau of Justice Statistics Selected Findings,Guns Used in Crime (.fury 19957)at 6.
35
i
19!10/1996 12:46 4154333357 L C A V PAGE 04
For the handgun makers of Southern California, the key to su=ss has been
keeping the price of their guns as tow as possible. For example, the Phoenix Arms _25
ACP Model Raven costs its manufacturer only $19 per handgun, and can tea
assembled in lust a few m nLges 59 Keeping costs down Means shortcuts in quality of
design, materials, and performance. Many of these guns are made with metal so soft it.
can be shaved with a knife.w
An article in t1he magazine Gun Tests (the equivalent of Consurner Reports for
gun purchasers) notes that Saturday blight Specials are kept inexpensive thr;ugh the
use of inferior metals, most notably zinc, and through the emission of safety features:
Such simplicity keeps prices down, but is not without its down side. W. Is
is most often found in three areas: unsophisticated safety system ts, few
convenient features, arsd lirnited durability.. Few of those lnexper MV6
guns have such niceties as slide hold-open devices, and none should be
carried %+lith a round in the chainber. The Gun Tests editorial staff
personally 'Knows an individual who routinely carried one of these budget
pistols "cocked and locked." After several months of doing so, the safety
inadvertently disengaged while riding in his front pants pocket a"d tie
ended up shooting himself in the leg.il
In fact, Saturday Night Special's are Made of such inferior metal that one Sacramento
racycier refuses to take them for scrap.B2
Two problems are presented by the poor quality of Saturday Night Speclals,
First, because of low Frod;: :iC^ costa, TanurfaGturers.`an produce these weapons in
large numbers, This low production cost leads to an extremely low market price.
Second, the poor duality of these w.rea ohs readers them urlraliable as arrears
of self-defense. The guns are pronnoted primarily for self-protection, but their shoddy
design and unreliability may provide a gun owner with nothing more then a false sense
of security. A May, 1894 i►lstallmvn:of the;�C !`Mews prdgram Day One discussed this
�8 J. Mintz,Prodi Ging the Handgans of Choice is.Mosby a Family Aff$ir, Vvasha gofcn Past.Jon. 18, 19-0',a
"4.
Go A.Freedman,Fft power Behind#w Ct V G!�s F,�ac�i tg f:ra�'l�ss is a Ca,�rfrsr�ta Farnrry, Wali StromJusutnal,Fab.28, 1992,a!Al,
6i See Supra note 55,tit 19(quotkig Alloy Sem!-Aute Pane P:s'c:a:.Z5 ACP S;rjiie Actions.Gars Tosts,June
1 W3,V(8):24-20).
87
Id. at 19.
a+3
t
• 10/10!1996 12:46 4154333357 L C A V PAGE 05
r
problem. At one point in he program, a Colorado police officer mentioned that WN16 he
has investigated "countless" homicides committed with Calif miss handguns, he + onnot
recall a single instance of this type of gun being effectively used for self-protection 63
According to a 1995 pall of California voters, 78% percent of Californians support
a ban on the manuTacture, sale, and possession of Saturc+ay Ni ht SreClals!� Like
support for gun control generally, this support crosses political party lines. Moreover,
76% of gun cwitnars support the ban. When asked if they would be more or less likoly to
vote for a lawmaker who voted for such a ban, 70% of those polled said they woLdd be
more likely to do so, while only 149 said they would be less likely to support that
ofr`ic'lat.s�
Despite broad public support for a ban on Saturday dight Specials, state
legiSIS4. have rspeated J` defeated efforts to' such a ban. AS a reseal;, many
cities and counties are considering ordinances to effect a local bast on these firearms.
The City of!Nest Hollywood adopted a Saturday Night Special sales ban in January of
13a�.
E;� L nb2t chslie nges
1, Preemption
Governri-vont Cie Samson 53071 does not preempt a local sales ban on
Saturday Night Specials. Such a ban does not cons ute a "licensing or reglstr:tion"
requirement, and therefore does not intrude upon the narrow field occupied by Section
a ^IT 4
.rave .
The outcome of a preemption challenge made S3L►j�e ba sis of .penal Code
Sec-bort 12626 is ;:Hole .Lu!t_#o. red±ict�_but we believe this challenna fa-hol-M W! as
well. Section 12.026 (b) prohibits the inmosition of any permit or license requirenftnt to
purchase, own orpossegg� ; concealable firearm — ne's residence or p Oce—'of
business. Preerr.PtIo"Fqp9gq arra due the his provision eliminates a locality's
power to barn the sale of Saturday_ itt Secials,_on local
e3 Id.,at 20.
64 See supra note 8(citing EDK Assodates Poll)_
65 Id.
37
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10!10!1996 12:46 4154333357 L C A V PAGE 06
government cannot impose a license or permit requirement, R also cannot prevdti
tt
ownership at►tjetlier.
However, a ban on the sale of Saturday Night Specials does not prevent,
IN ownership: 'Anyone who already owns a Saturday Night Special could continue to too
so and would not be prohibited from possessing the firearm at his or her residence or
place of business_ Moreover, the purchase of any other handgun would rema n
unaffected by a narrowly tailored ban on the sale of Saturday Night Special%.
Accordingly, such an ofulinance would not rnaterially limit the abillay oil a zer's v
Now
purchase handguns, or to possess them at home or at work ss
A sales ban ordinance could also be challenged on the ground that It interfen"s
with the abi�y of private cil;zens'hho already own.Saturday Night Specials to transfer
them. Penal Code Section 12082 provides that any transfer of a firearm between two
rlantieulets must tale placethird--gh a li ens d sealer. An ordinance barring dealem
from selling Saturday NightSpecialswould also prevent inese nondealer transfer,.
because the dealer facilitating the transfer would be barred from completing it. Section
1120832, however, expressly CoviternplBtes circumstances In which fire Cui�iNiB""On V. a
proposed nondealer transfer is barred by law, and directs the dealer in such cases to
it
return the firearms to the prO'Snnr4%rca cnrlssr An arnnument ran lata lt2a�lg that t,
M ♦ V YVv Y4rr�. �M it
provision contemplates only transactions which are illegal because the prospective
buyer is a prohibited purchaser (i.e., a felon, a mirtor, etc_), though the language of the
statute is sufficiently broad to suggest otherwise_ T}fie a tec;t of Section 12082 on L ie
legality of a sale ban has not been tested in court_ The West Hollywood ordinanoe
exempts- nonedealor tlnncfel- --
Yom+`+v• wrry rw.
-- i.r. ErIetuat protection
Findings demonstrating the dangers to users of Saturday Night Specials, th6ir
disproportionate use in crime and their unsuitability for sporting or self-defense
66 A November 30,1995 eptn3en nt the L;itiative Greg!of Caiif=rni_,miten in retp-,_to a to^.1A
Pasadena Senator Bit!Hoge,conoWad that Weat Hollywood's proposed ordinance would p4 preamc�ted l7v elate
law. However,this opinion relies primarily on the implied preemption dicta in Doe. The opinion ignores the fact that
Doe involved a complale pan an the possession of any handgun,which differs Slgniticantly frorn s ban on the sale of
e 1 iPe6fic type of pariicu!artp primematic handgun. Because the opinion was not prepared to assist the Legistature
i^11tH".."5if�,.^,:�ti?il O`E,2ndirjg legistrown,aie r egwau,*Counw s oplr4on has no beating or,lire Wigaiiiy vi 0-10
WR.$t"0YWVod Ord in ari-- Se Em v--Vttn;An•y^v. CJ-,,y of F..^l:toho Mmg-,%1 nn:j iv V&i-App.40th,3.03,39.0.n.1v-
30
10!10!1996 12=46 4154333357 L C A :r PAGE 07
purposes should provide a rational basis for a Iotal sales ban. Accordingly, a challenge
made on equal protect"'O t grounds should be unsucc—essful.
iii. Due process
In order to avoid a due process challenge, any ordinance seeking to ban the sale
of Saturday Night Specials must specifica--lly and_cleariy define the guns to be banned.
The do-liniticn which the federal government applies to imparted handguns, and which
was outlined in California Senate Bi!! 933 (ntroduced by Senator Richard Polar-eta in
1995), outlaws any firearm that fails to achieve an adequate score on a mufti-variable
Qt._The test l^oks at various sa€ety, favors. For exarnple, if the gun's barrel is not at
least 4" long, the firearm scores no points. in addition, the gun frame r'r'lust be
constructed of forged steel or a forged alloy. The heavier, and thus more, stable, the
weapon fs, the more points It scores. 1,argue caliber Weapons alto score mote points,
as do those with safety features.— a loaded chamber indicator, a lacked breach
mechanism, drip and magazine safeties, or trigger or firing pin locks.
Another potentially valid method for defining this type of handgun was outlined in
A..YJ., tl:Il �'JO .nfrtrio�roii Itrctsirt7�t{vmSt►1 �f111DR a1CiPra lfl 11 5�;
l/d111Vf I Ilu IR+?.7GI lluty Lill, Lv �ie�t N�++�� ) v'+v• 7•••'-"'
That bill proposed a nine-factor test for determining the legality of a firearm. The
judging criteria included: concealabiiity, ballistic accuracy, weight, quality of materials,
quality of manufacture, relf—ability as to safety, cali!'er. ability to be detected by standard
security equipment and utility for legitimate sporting. self-protection or law entorcen`ienni
purposes_ Additionally, no gun could qualify for sale unless it had: (1) a positive
dial uaiiY operated safety device. and (2) car wrn.hined length and height of not less fuen
ten inches, with the height tieing at least four inches and the length at least six inches.
West Hollywood's ordinance defines 'Saturday Night Special' to include any
hanudgul, wif key components constm—cfed of z;,,-- alloy alloy or tastable aluminum. These
materials are commonly used in cheap handguns_ mother approach is to barn any
handgun which melts below a certain temperature-(e.g., 1000 degrees I'), Minn. Stat.
624.712 �.NItest €9951. This test app;oxirnates the 00nvtrV t n test but runs the risk of
banning high-quality handguns made of plastic polymers.
�s