No Break for City’s Gun Dealers

The City Council gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a plan that would extend the deadline for some Los Angeles businesses to pay new, higher fees for police permits.

But the council declined to delay the current Dec. 31 due date for gun dealers.

City officials said they have received hundreds of calls and letters from holders of police permits protesting fee increases of more than 1,000% in many cases. As a result, the council tentatively agreed to extend the deadline for most payments from Dec. 31 to March 31 and to use the extra three months to revisit the question of whether the fee increases are justified.

The council asked the city attorney to draft an ordinance, which must be approved on Friday for the delay to take effect.

The delay was supported by pawnshop owners, who face an increase in their police permit fees from $124 to $2,000.

“This motion will save hundreds and hundreds of mom-and-pop businesses across Los Angeles a real heartburn,” said Ken Smith, president of the Collateral Loan and Second-hand Dealers Assn. of California.

Diane Taylor, who has a shop in the San Fernando Valley, said the city needs to show what costs warrant the fee. She said police have reduced the number of officers who regularly monitor pawnshops.

Police permit fees also are increasing for gun dealers, game arcades, massage technicians, dance halls, auto parks, towing operators and cafes with live entertainment.

Councilman Jack Weiss urged his colleagues not to delay the fee increases for gun dealers, whose permit fees are set to go from $149 to $2,000. Defending the increase, Weiss cited the plague of gun violence in L.A.

“I will not vote for any measure that cuts a break to gun dealers in this city,” Weiss said. “I won’t give them three extra months ... three weeks. I won’t give them three extra minutes.”

He said the fees are needed to ensure firearms dealers follow the law.