How Desperation Becomes a Tool : Prodded by ever-rising mayhem, Pasadena passes a law regulating bullet sales

Bravo to the members of the Pasadena City Council. By a vote of 5 to 2, the council adopted what is believed to be the nation’s first municipal law restricting bullet sales.

Approval did not come easily, however. Emotions ran high: Ordinance supporters, outraged by street violence, verbally battled with gun enthusiasts who reject even the most reasonable restrictions. The vote did not occur until shortly before midnight, after five hours of debate. Dozens of backers and opponents of the ordinance offered impassioned testimony before a standing-room-only crowd. Tempers flared; one council member temporarily left the proceedings in angrily reacting to pro-ordinance comments by the police chief. Cheers and catcalls broke out often.

And what was all the fuss over? The new ordinance requires anyone buying bullets in Pasadena to provide identification showing proof of age and to complete a registration form listing the amount, brand and type of ammunition purchased.

The measure is intended to curtail sales of bullets to juveniles--such sales are already illegal but nonetheless widespread--and to provide police with information that may help link bullets found at a crime scene with suspects.

Pasadena has taken but the tiniest of steps with this ordinance. But it is a measure of the headlock in which the gun lobby has held federal, state and local lawmakers that even these tepid, sensible restrictions on bullet sales can be so strongly resisted as an infringement on the right of self-defense. After all, as Pasadena Police Chief Jerry Oliver noted at the start of the council meeting, “Tonight, it is easier to buy 9-millimeter ammunition than it is to buy a can of spray paint.” That discrepancy is nuts.

The most powerful criticism of the new ordinance is that it may not be very effective. Pasadena kids and adults bent on violence may simply seek their bullets in nearby Glendale, Los Angeles or La Canada. Alone, Pasadena can realistically do little to reduce gun violence.

But the true worth of Pasadena’s ordinance--its value as an example--was apparent even before its passage. Monday afternoon the Los Angeles City Council took the first steps to follow Pasadena’s lead. The council’s Public Safety Committee asked the city attorney to draft an ordinance patterned on Pasadena’s. Then, on Tuesday, Azusa’s police chief vowed to seek such an ordinance there.

If Los Angeles and Azusa--as we hope--pass bullet laws, more cities are sure to follow. Then, what began as, in part, a symbolic gesture reflecting the desperation of Pasadena’s leaders to “do something” about gun crime will become a tough tool against criminals throughout this violence-weary region.