"California Lawmakers Debate Airport Security"

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Torres' concealed gun in airport bill advances
The Associated Press


Debate in the Assembly turned personal Monday when Norma Torres, D-Chino,
introduced an airport security bill that many interpreted as a jab at
Republican Tim Donnelly who was caught bringing a loaded gun through airport
security earlier this year. 

The bill, which would require law enforcement officers to arrest anyone
bringing a concealed gun into an airport, sparked partisan name-calling and
accusations of dishonesty. 

"Who's next? Whose next mistake is going to be brought up in a bill in this
chamber?" asked Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore.

Assemblyman Brian Jones, R-Santee, called the bill "an insult to the
citizens of California," while Assemblyman Donald Wagner, R-Irvine, called
it an embarrassment. 

Torres said she wrote AB2182 as a public safety measure. Her Southern
California district borders that of Donnelly, R-Hesperia, and contains
LA/Ontario International Airport, where he was stopped in January while
carrying a loaded handgun in his carry-on luggage. 

"This bill is about the irresponsible gun owner who doesn't know where their
weapon is," Torres said on the floor. 

Donnelly, an outspoken gun rights advocate from Twin Peaks, raised his
microphone, eliciting catcalls from some colleagues, but did not speak. He
later said he did not want to heap more attention on a bill he thought was a
disgrace to the institution of the Legislature. 

The bill passed 46-25 Monday and now goes to the Senate. Donnelly voted no.

"I think some of my colleagues just institutionalized the absolute utter
contempt with which the public holds us," he said in an interview after the
floor session. "And their vote today confirms that they should be held in
contempt." 

He said Republicans did not pass bills banning people who shoplift from
Neiman Marcus from returning to that store or prohibiting the use of state
vehicles for drunken driving, even though two Democrats were recently
charged with those offenses. 

Donnelly has said he was carrying the gun that ended up at the airport
because he had received death threats over his opposition to illegal
immigration. He said he hid it in his briefcase so his wife would not be
alarmed, then forgot it was there. 

Not long after police cited and released the lawmaker, another passenger was
arrested after he tried to bring four loaded guns through a security
checkpoint at the Sacramento airport. 

Donnelly was fined $2,215 for two misdemeanor charges related to the
incident: illegally carrying a loaded firearm and possessing a prohibited
item in a secure area of ONT. 

Torres said the only person connecting the legislation to Donnelly was
Donnelly himself. He confronted her about the bill in January while they
were both waiting at the Sacramento airport, she said. The run-in left her
so rattled that she started taking a different flight each week to avoid
him. 

"He was very assertive. Very, very, very aggressive," she said in an
interview after the floor session. 

Donnelly said Torres was inventing a story based on a quip he made after
letting her cut in line in front of him. 

"I said, 'You know, if your bill goes through, you won't be able to cut in
front of me anymore,'" he said. "I was joking."

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