HANDGUN BAN WOULD DISARM
OFF-DUTY POLICE, SAY OPPONENTS
Proposition H said without penalties drafted

Former San Francisco Police Chief, Tony Ribera
fogcityjournal.com photos by Stephen Dorian Miner

October 28, 2005

By Pat Murphy

Opponents of a handgun ban measure appearing on the city November ballot yesterday derided the proposal as disarming off-duty police officers without disarming criminals

So poorly written, they alleged, it provides no penalty and invites litigation sapping city revenues otherwise available for crime prevention and social services.

"This proposition is so badly written that it will disarm your active peace officers, as well as your retired peace officers, who reside in San Francisco," said Larry Besetti, a retired San Francisco police lieutenant.

Larry Besetti

"When the ground does shake…we will have virtually no one who will be able to help you except the handful of officers who are on duty," he added.

A member of the San Francisco Green Party Central County Council scored the measure for lack of defined penalties.

"One of our key values is non-violence. A lot of people in our party want to support this," stated Salomon.

"Upon looking at this deeper, we realize there are a lot of fatal flaws in this legislation.

"It sounds good, but once you look at it it's not going to work," Salomon continued noting he spoke as an individual, not for the Green Party. His party has taken no position on Proposition H, he reported.

"Our concerns were there are no penalties involved. There are no criminal or civil penalties - I guess that's left up to the Board of Supervisors. The voters vote on something and we don't know what we're getting."

Former San Francisco Police Chief Tony Ribera recalled a city handgun buy-back effort.

"Marc's right on target. This legislation has litigation written all over it. It's going to be tied up in the courts for years at great cost to the city," began Ribera.

"But more importantly, back in the early 90s Supervisor Willie Kennedy got legislation through where we would buy guns for $50.

"I was the captain at the time in the police department in charge of supervising that law.

"What we saw was a bunch of law-abiding citizens coming in and selling their guns. There were no gangsters coming in. There was no criminal element.

"And you know what, the law now says that a felon cannot be in possession of a gun. These are the people who are committing the crimes in San Francisco, so there is already a law impacting them," Ribera noted.

The coalition opposing the measure also included Calvin Gibson, past president of the LGBT Pride Parade; Paula Fiscal, spokeswoman for the Mexican American Political Association; former Supervisor Carole Ruth Silver; and a representative of the Pink Pistols.

'We Won't Give Up Our Guns' chant, from left,
former Supervisor Carole Ruth Silver; Espanola Jackson,
a District 10 senior activist; and Paul Fiscal,
spokeswoman for the Mexican American Political Association.

Resources: Vote No on Proposition H, Elections Department Proposition H Digest.

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