Lawmakers seek to strengthen state’s assault-weapons ban

Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco. Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco. Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Lawmakers seek to strengthen state’s assault-weapons ban 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Assemblyman David Chiu, seeking to strengthen the state’s ban on assault weapons, brought two semiautomatic rifles to San Francisco to show how quick and easy it is to load a clip full of bullets — legally and illegally.

It took him about two seconds to change clips on an illegal assault rifle. And it took him about three seconds — using the “bullet button” loophole in existing law — to change the clips on a legal semiautomatic rifle, the kind available for sale throughout California.

The demonstration in a conference room in the State Building was the opening salvo in the campaign by Chiu, D-San Francisco, to ban detachable clips from semiautomatic rifles sold in California. His bill, introduced Thursday, would require the magazines on such weapons to be permanently attached.

Chiu intended his demonstration to show how easy it is to stay within the law while quickly changing ammunition clips — the same action that gunmen have performed during recent mass killings in San Bernardino; Newtown, Conn.; Aurora, Colo.; and elsewhere.

“Detachable magazines cost lives,” Chiu said. “We must close the loopholes in our assault weapons ban.”

A similar bill to ban detachable clips was vetoed last year by Gov. Jerry Brown. Chiu said he hoped that modifications in the new bill would meet with the governor’s approval this time.

The proposed law, AB1663, was co-written by Democratic Assemblymen Phil Ting of San Francisco, Rob Bonta of Alameda and Marc Levine of San Rafael, and was endorsed by state Attorney General Kamala Harris.

“Mass shootings have become routine,” Ting said. “Shooters use military-style weaponry because it enables them to kill as many innocent people as fast as they can.”

Gun safety advocates have long complained that gun manufacturers exploit loopholes to circumvent the intent of laws such as California’s assault weapons ban, passed in 1989 following a shooting in a Stockton schoolyard.

Among the supporters of the bill at Chiu’s demonstration were pastor Arelious Walker of True Hope Church in San Francisco, who said gun violence “affects all of us, but especially communities of color.”

Calls to the National Rifle Association and the California Rifle and Pistol Association seeking comment on the proposal were not returned.

Chiu borrowed the two weapons used for the demonstration from the state Department of Justice. Afterward, a chaperone took them back into custody, returned them to Sacramento and locked them up.

Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF