County looking at further gun control laws

Los Angeles County is looking to join Florida in increasing the strength of gun control by introducing a new bill that further regulates firearms.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is expected to vote on a motion to restrict the sale and possession of firearms by minors or those under the age of 21, banning .50 caliber handguns, strengthening safe storage requirements and adopting zone regulations.

For the 5th District, county Supervisor Kathryn Barger is studying the item and looking forward to the discussion Tuesday, when the board is expected to deliberate the move, according to Tony Bell, spokesman for Barger.

The motion would also instruct the county’s CEO to come back in a month with a report of an overview of gun control legislation in other states.

It would also instruct the Department of Public Health and the CEO to propose infrastructure the county needs in order to create and support a countywide Violence Prevention Initiative.

Every year, 33,000 people die as a result of gun violence, including 1,500 children, and another 85,000 are injured due to guns, according to supporting documents in Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors agenda.

In L.A. County, an average of three people die every day due to firearms.

Between 2004 and 2013, homicide was a leading cause of premature death for the entire county population, second only to heart disease, according to data gathered by the Department of Public Health.

The county already uses a number of different programs to assist with handling gun and school violence, like their School Threat Assessment and Response Teams, called START. START seeks to prevent violence in L.A. County schools.