City Bans ‘Saturday Night Special’ Guns

San Fernando has joined a growing list of California cities and counties to ban the small, cheap handguns known as Saturday night specials.

The City Council adopted the ban Monday via a motion introduced by council members Joanne Baltierrez and Doude Wysbeek.

Mayor Raul Godinez said the new law will increase public safety.

“Saturday night specials have no sporting use and are involved in a disproportionate amount of crime,” he said. He added that Congress recognized that and banned the weapons in 1968--except for those made by domestic companies.

“That is why we must now ban them on a local level,” Godinez said.

Dozens of municipalities have modeled laws after one passed in 1995 by West Hollywood, the first city to target the weapons that are commonly available for as little as $50. Los Angeles banned the guns last summer, with officials saying they accounted for 1,437, or 13%, of all firearms confiscated by police in 1995.

In recent months, though, the momentum to ban the weapons has slowed amid concerns of lawsuits by powerful gun lobbyists. The California Rifle and Pistol Assn. has appealed a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge’s dismissal of its lawsuit against West Hollywood.

The gun group has vowed to continue applying pressure regardless of the appeal’s outcome. West Hollywood officials say they spent $86,000 of their $11-million budget fighting the suit, although local businessmen and lawyers have offered to help defray the costs.