Alphecca

NY Times on the SF Gun Ban

An article in yesterday's New York Times has plenty of quotes that express skepticism of the referendum to ban handguns:

Whatever the measure's fate in San Francisco, it has sparked some conflict. The San Francisco police union has lambasted the local elected official who authored the ordinance, which it said would do little except take guns out of the hands of law-abiding residents. The police have also said the law, which would require residents to surrender weapons by March 1 of next year could present an enforcement headache.

The measure provides for the city's board of supervisors, in consultation with the law enforcement community, to determine after the election what will be the penalty for violators.

"This is putting a Band-Aid on heart surgery," said Gary P. Delagnes, president of the San Francisco Police Officer's Association. He called it another "silly idea" from elected officials whose progressive ideas are not grounded in the realities of fighting crime.

[...]

Mr. Delagnes attributed the surge to drug- and gang-related violence in pockets of San Francisco. Overall, he said police have confiscated some 1,400 guns this year. And he said that if the city were serious about fighting gun violence, it would better enforce existing laws, such as urging judges to give jail time to people caught with unlicensed firearms.

[...]

Others are less generous, saying the ordinance is doomed to be overturned in court.

"This is a triumph of symbolic politics," said Franklin E. Zimring, at professor at the University of California at Berkeley Boalt School of Law, deeming the ordinance a "sure loser" in state court. Both daily newspapers in the city, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Examiner, cited the likelihood of a successful legal challenge as one key reason they recommend voters reject the measure.

I'm sure that if it passes, all the gang leaders will urge their members to surrender their guns and the city will become a tranquil paradise. Robbers and rapists and drug-crazed muggers will be lining-up at the local precinct houses to give-up the means to their livelyhoods.