The State : Firearm Crime Effort Urged

Gov. George Deukmejian said he will sign a bill making California the first state in the nation to ban the sale of assault firearms. However, the Republican governor--a longtime opponent of gun control--cautioned that the state also needs to enact stricter penalties against criminals who use those guns. “While these (assault weapon) bills will assist law enforcement officers, we must continue to let criminals know that if they use any weapons in the commission of a crime that we will take them out of society and put them behind bars,” Deukmejian said in his weekly radio address. The Legislature narrowly approved the landmark assault weapons ban. The historic legislation will ban the manufacture and sale of more than 50 models of semiautomatic assault weapons. People who legally possessed the guns before June 1, 1989, could keep them but would have to register them with the state by Jan. 1, 1991.