When two state lawmakers introduced handgun-control legislation in the mid 1970s, then-Sen. H.L. “Bill” Richardson formed Gun Owners of California, and later Gun Owners of America, in defense of Second Amendment rights.

Richardson, who died Monday, Jan. 13, at 92, kept gun control legislation from getting to the governor’s desk through the 1980s, said Sam Parades, executive director of Gun Owners of California and Richardson’s son-in-law.

“Anytime any legislator talked against the Second Amendment, he would recruit candidates and help fund them, train them and run them against some of these incumbents,” Parades said. “They didn’t like that, but they had no means to fight back except to not sponsor legislation like that anymore.”

Richardson, a Republican, served from 1966 to 1988. He represented the San Gabriel Valley, and later, parts of western San Bernardino County, the Mojave Desert and Inyo County, said former Sen. Bill Leonard, who succeeded Richardson in the senate.

“He really encouraged people to not focus on the small issues, the small bills, but to look at the overall picture of where we were going as people and what government should be,” Leonard said.

Richardson wrote several political books, including “Confrontational Politics: How to Effectively Practice the Politics of Principle” and “What Makes You Think We Read the Bills?” as well as western novels “The Devil’s Eye” and “The Shadows of Crazy Mountain.”

He was a hunter and avid reader of the Bible, Parades said.

“He loved this country very much,” Parades said. “He traveled extensively. He hunted in Africa and many states. He and his wife Barbara were amazing parents, grandparents and great grandparents.”

Funeral arrangements will be private.