Council to Consider a Ban on Handguns

A proposed ordinance to ban the possession of handguns will be considered by the Compton City Council tonight.

Compton was the first city to outlaw the possession of semiautomatic weapons after the January, 1989, shooting deaths of several children in a Stockton schoolyard. The state Legislature followed suit in banning the weapons.

Last month in Compton an 11-year-old boy was shot to death in a schoolyard when a pistol-toting gang member fired at a school police officer and hit the child instead. Since that shooting April 23, the school police have arrested at least three high school students for carrying handguns on campus. In 1987, the City Council voted for such a ban but within a week reversed itself in the face of strong opposition from city residents.