Movie Makers Exempted From City Gun Law

Less than 24 hours after a 7-year-old boy was killed by two men firing assault weapons at a third person in an Inglewood recreation center parking lot and a 34-year-old man died after a verbal confrontation on a Compton street, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday agreed to exempt movie makers from a new law aimed at restricting the use of such firearms.

Although the violence this time occurred outside city boundaries, some City Council members opposed to the exemption linked those outbreaks to what they see as the “glamorization” of violence in films and on television. As a result, they said the entertainment industry should be included in tough gun laws.

Most city lawmakers, however, said that while they are extremely concerned about the recent violence on the streets, as well as on the screen, they did not believe that a line could be drawn by denying so-called action filmmakers the exemption.

“I believe very strongly that there is too much violence portrayed in movies and elsewhere,” said City Councilman Mike Feuer, who authored the gun law and the amendments approved Tuesday. “But one doesn’t address that violence with this. . . . It’s a much deeper question. There are other means that are more appropriate, and I will be involved in that.”

Councilman Mike Hernandez, who voted against the exemption along with Nate Holden and Rita Walters, said he found it “ironic” that the council was being asked to make it easier for filmmakers to portray high-powered guns and violence, while the council is trying to reduce such violence on the streets.

“There were six shootings last night,” Hernandez said. “I don’t know what the movie industry is doing to assure us that they will deal with these issues.”

Under the amendments approved by the council Tuesday, the entertainment industry, as well as historical societies and museums, would be exempted from the city ban on the transfer and sales of clips or magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

Feuer said that the inclusion of the entertainment industry in his original statute was “inadvertent” and that he never intended to apply the law to filmmakers and prop companies but to criminals who use high-capacity magazines.

The changes now go to Mayor Richard Riordan, whose spokeswoman says the issue is a challenging one.

“It’s a delicate balancing act,” said Noelia Rodriguez. “There is a need to be friendly to this industry which is creating jobs in the city . . . while being sensitive to what goes on in real life in Los Angeles.”

LAPD Deputy Chief David Gascon said, “I think part of what television and movies do is to influence and move people--sometimes it’s not always for the best.”

In February’s North Hollywood bank robbery, in which two robbers held police at bay with high-powered assault weapons, investigators learned that the gunmen’s favorite movie was “Heat,” a violent film about bank robbers with assault weapons that was found in one of their hide-outs.

Although some said the industry should be encouraged to show the detriments of gun violence, others said they don’t see a connection between entertainment and street violence.

“None of the homicides we’ve investigated recently relate back to the movies,” said Lt. Danny Sneed of the Compton Police Department. “It almost always goes back to a problem between gangs.”

Further, he said Compton’s violence reflects a deeper, societal problem. “I think the younger generation of today has very little regard for life itself.”

Still, some council members said the entertainment industry has a responsibility to young people to decry--rather than glamorize--violence.

“I think we should be very, very careful about ignoring the connection between violence on the screen and violence on the streets,” said Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas. “I don’t know that we want to ignore the data that . . . is, at the least, compelling.”

These lawmakers said gun violence should be addressed in much the same way as smoking on the screen--that is, by encouraging rather than legislating the entertainment industry to cut down on it.

Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg added: “There are ways to have an influence, but this isn’t it.”

Others went further.

“Until they accept responsibility for their role, I think the violence will continue” on screen and on the streets, said Councilman Richard Alatorre. “They have a serious responsibility in the glamorization of violence.”

The exemption allows filmmakers to use the high-capacity weapons--with blanks--and to freely move them around the city. If the industry had not been exempted, just taking the magazines and clips from one location to another would have been illegal.

“The ordinance was designed to make it more difficult for criminals,” Feuer said. “It was never designed to address the motion picture industry.”