Dear Self Defense Civil Rights Activists:

Your calls are having an effect! Please keep it up! If not you, who?

It would be smart to call one of the Committee members to confirm that it has been changed to the 19th, and that it is still scheduled then and there before traveling. Call and get directions and other details from the Committee too.

The buyers license ordinance is being promoted by Council member Michael Feuer (a candidate for LA City Attorney). Please contact his Deputy, Mr. Daniel Hinnerfeld, at (213) 485-5013 and voice your positions. Attend the hearing if possible.

You can monitor these ordinances through the office of any Public Safety Committee member. Call them for a status report. A copy of the proposed buyers license ordinance is apparently now available. Ask them for one.

Feuer's office says the background check/buyer's license is justified by the ammo sales registration forms that the City has been collecting for about a year. They claim those forms prove that persons ineligible to possess ammo are buying it.

Several people have been trying to get reports on this from the City and the LAPD, but none have been produced. When this was brought to Feuer's office's attention, they now say that there may not be any forms, and that the ordinance is based on a LAPD spot check that revealed prohibited persons were buying ammo and an oral report. According to Feuer, since there is no way to enforce that law against the prohibited persons who have bought the ammo the ordinance is necessary (wait a minute, the ammo buyers give their name and address and thumbprint when they buy the ammo! If they are ineligible they are breaking the law. How about arresting them!).

When calling the Committee members, you can ask for all reports justifying the law so you can address them at the hearing, or by letter. If the Committee realizes the reports aren't available or don't prove their point, it could help sway them. Also, point out that they should enforce the existing law!

The city has been notified that the federal district court in LA just ruled, in the Great Western case, that cities can't ban the sale of ammo. That court adopted an Attorney General Opinion saying that cities can't require licenses to purchase ammo. LA is ignoring both rulings. That should be brought to the Committee's attention too.

Both of these ludicrous laws are being promoted by anti-gun forces that have publicly announced their intention to get the ordinance(s) passed in as many cities around Los Angeles and San Francisco (and the State) as possible, thus making it practically impossible to purchase ammunition. Even if you don't live in the City of LA you have an interest in this law and should call (and call, and call) and write the City Council, starting with the Public Safety Committee members, and attend hearings on the issues.

The rest of the Los Angeles city council members are listed below. Those with an asterisk are on the Public Safety Committee, and contacting them should be a priority