State Police Chiefs Back Stiffer Gun Regulations : Law enforcement: The association calls for mandatory registration, a ban on assault weapons and harsher penalties.

Acknowledging they are reaching into a political hornet’s nest, California’s police chiefs called Friday for sweeping new regulations on gun ownership and increased penalties for illegal use of guns.

“As chiefs of police, we are responsible for public safety,” Los Gatos Police Chief Larry J. Todd told 175 members of the California Police Chiefs Assn. at its annual meeting. “That responsibility requires leadership. It is for these reasons that we are stepping forward.”

The 400-member association, meeting at the Disneyland Hotel, adopted a report developed by a panel of 21 members over the past year.

Its recommendations include:

* Mandatory registration of all firearms, including those traded between individuals;

* Limiting ammunition magazines to no more than six bullets;

* Requiring the purchase of separate trigger locking devices with all guns;

* Restricting concealed-weapons permits to a “few persons” statewide;

* Banning all military-style assault rifles “as serving no recognized civilian purpose”;

* Increasing the penalty for the unlawful sale, possession or use of a firearm from a misdemeanor to a felony.

Todd, president of the police chiefs association, said he hoped the recommendations will frame public debate in California. They also will be forwarded to the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police.

Society, he said, has “falsely held . . . that a highly armed populace is necessary for the preservation of our freedoms. For far too long, the law enforcement community has stood silent, permitting other voices to speak for us.”

Asked if the chiefs expect opposition based on the Second Amendment, Todd said, “You betcha we do. We stand prepared to discuss those issues.”

Steve Helsley, California state liaison for the National Rifle Assn., the chief opponent of arms control, called the chiefs’ resolution “a scheme to confiscate guns.”

“I feel bad for the chiefs,” he said, because what they’re saying is that they don’t trust their constituents. . . . What they want to do is to make felons out of everyone who doesn’t turn in their guns, or get a license from the state to possess them. This is backward. They’re beating up the good guys and not affecting the bad guys.”

Costa Mesa Police Chief David L. Snowden said: “The fact is, where the bad guys get firearms is stealing them from the good guys.”

Todd said that in 1993 “close to 40,000 Americans were killed by the use of firearms, of which more than 5,000 were Californians. In addition, the National Centers for Disease Control estimates that for each firearms death, another 10 people are shot yet survive.”

Snowden said he expected “wholesale condemnation of our proposal by the NRA. Gun nuts of the state are going to come out of the woodwork, saying it’s an infringement of the Second Amendment.”