Disarming law-abiding San Franciscans.(Correction, Please!)(Correction Notice)

ITEM: The Christian Science Monitor for January 31 reported that San Francisco could become "a pioneer in gun control," saying, "In a city so often intent on making brash political statements, [Board of Supervisors member] Chris Daly's tone is decidedly practical." Mr. Daly "has proposed a ban on handguns in the city, prohibiting any resident from making, buying. or even owning them. If approved by voters this fall, the ballot measure would give San Francisco the toughest handgun laws of any major city in the United States."

The Monitor continued: "Once again, this most liberal of cities stands poised to take the lead on one of the most controversial areas of public policy.... Whether the handgun ban would be a useful addition to this [existing] suite of gun-control laws, however, is uncertain."

CORRECTION: If the ban passes, one thing is very certain: it would not stop crime any better than other gun-control measures. Recently, the National Academy of Sciences, with a deck stacked almost exclusively with gun control advocates, used 328 pages to summarize an analysis of almost 400 academic articles, books, and official publications only to discover (surprise!) that it could not detect a solitary gun-control regulation that had reduced violent crime, suicide, or accidents.

Such citywide bans have been tried previously. For example, it is illegal in Washington, D.C., for private citizens to possess handguns. Yet, as a spokesman for the National Rifle Association has pointed out, Washington's experiment with strict gun control is not exactly a great model for San Francisco. "If gun control worked, Washington, D.C., would be the beacon," commented Andrew Arulanandam. "However, it's the murder capital of the United States." Chicago, a city that vies with Washington, D.C., for murder capital of the world, is another city that has banned handguns. Tellingly, there are ...