http://cbs2.com/specialassign/local_story_319192405.html

Nov 15, 2002 4:17 pm US/Pacific
(KCBS) A Special Assignment Exclusive ...

Earlier this year the state legislature gave the go-ahead to take guns out of the hands of convicted felons, the mentally disturbed and drug users.

CBS 2's Drew Griffin went on the first set of raids aimed at taking dangerous guns out of the wrong hands.

Special Assignment: "Taking Aim On Guns" aired November 15, 2002 at 11 p.m.

He would have kept living unnoticed in a small beachfront apartment in Redondo Beach. The quiet single man inside had kept to himself.

But this week, an elite team of state agents pounded on his door and found "a bunch of stuff in his room."

The agents' target? Guns in the possession of people who should not have them.

"You have the court order not to be in possession of firearms," an unidentified cop said to the man.

And this man should definitely not be in possession of firearms. He is on anti-depressants, injecting steroids, and is currently on probation for illegally carrying guns.

"Do you understand what you are under arrest for?" a cop asked the man.

He is one of 170,000 people in California who right now are armed, dangerous and according to the attorney general of this state, are powder kegs ready to blow.

"There have been lots of horrible examples of people who have committed serious crimes on innocent people with weapons that they weren't supposed to have," Attorney General Bill Lockyer said.

People like suspected sniper John Muhammed -- his criminal past banned him from owning guns, and Jewish Commuinity Center shooter Buford Furrow, who killed a Southern California postal worker -- he was on parole and was supposed to have his guns taken away.

And there was the Aug. 26, 2001 incident in Santa Clarita. James Beck, a convicted felon, sitting on a stockpile of deadly weapons and holed up inside his suburban home. He opens fire when police come to get him. Then his house erupts in flames. He dies in the fire, and Sheriff's deputy Jake Kuredjian is gunned down in the firefight.

Vowing to not let that happen again, California has become the first state in the nation to begin going into felons' homes and taking the guns.

In a program that targets illegal gun owners with criminal or mental or violent pasts, agents are now knocking on and knocking down doors to remove the firepower from would-be threats.

And it's not just happening inside homes. Gun stores are now linked to the state's criminal system, and information here sends off automatic alarm bells in Sacramento and could trigger immediate action when a banned gun owner tries to purchase even the smallest gun.

Earlier this year, the alarm bell went off at a gun store when Gregory Duvalle, a man with a history of drug abuse and mental problems, tried to purchase another gun.

"Hey, this person can't take possession of the firearms, we'd like to get copies of the documents themselves," said gun store owner Evan Carolyn. (from evans gun world in orange, ca.)

This morning, agents raiding Duvalle's house are not surprised at what they find.

"We got a Ruger 22, semi-automatic pistol. That's a deadly weapon," an unidentified cop said.

Duvalle claims that has violated no laws.

For the team, it is one more person off a seemingly never-ending list. Eight guns confiscated. But tonight hundreds of thousands are still out there. Deadly weapons in the hands of the wrong people.

The program still has long way to go, and has yet to address all of the convicted felons who have bought their guns illegally. But the Attorney General insists this is just a start of what he hopes will be a full effort to take guns out of the hands of the wrong people.


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cant wait till they start in on the AW registration lists -- were F**KED