Megan Westervelt
News Assistant
Coming to California as a lifelong Colorado resident, I knew there would be dramatic differences in lifestyle and attitude in Malibu. What I didn’t count on, however, was the total absence of gun stores and almost no gun magazines in the grocery store or the local newsstand.
My father taught me at age 11 to shoot a .22 rifle, and by my following birthday, I was practicing with more powerful guns. I grew up in the small, old-western town of Durango, Colo., where there are two shooting ranges in town alone, not to mention at least a dozen gun stores lining Main Street. I was awestruck by such a small supply of gun-associated paraphernalia around Malibu.
My surprise led me to a bit of research, and I soon found out California has strict gun laws. According to the National Rifle Association’s Firearms Laws for California, no one can legally buy a handgun, unless it is recorded by the police and purchased from a licensed gun dealer. Additionally, rifles and shotguns are illegal to purchase from anyone but a licensed gun dealer.
I also decided to research Colorado’s gun laws and found to my great surprise that Colorado also only allows the sale of guns from licensed dealers.
I had never known Colorado was just as strict as California regarding gun laws. Basically, the two states maintain almost the exact gun laws after all. So why then are guns so prevalent every day in Colorado, but so rarely advertised and encouraged in Malibu? Obviously, it is not the gun control laws.
I made a quick trip down to Ralphs grocery store and the Malibu Newsstand to try and find some answers. At Ralphs, no matter how hard I looked, no gun magazines could be found, neither hunting magazines nor gun-sale specials. I asked the manager why his magazine selection did not include any gun publications, and he said, “We usually stock them.” Well, “usually” wouldn’t cut it if I had wanted one that night.
I asked an employee at the newsstand the same question, because I couldn’t find any hint of a gun special there either.
“Right this way,” he said, and proceeded to lead me to the very back and highest row of the men’s section, almost too hidden by muscle-men magazines to ever possibly find.
I realized it isn’t that California restricts people from buying guns more than in Colorado; it is that here guns aren’t encouraged nearly as much as in Colorado.
Having to ask someone for help in order to find gun-related reading is never an issue in Colorado; gun paraphernalia is advertised everywhere and usually placed up front on a magazine shelf. It could be that Colorado is a huge hunting destination, but my family doesn’t hunt and we still do plenty of shooting.
Or maybe it is because there are no places to shoot a gun in Malibu without the entire Lost Hills Sheriffs department converging the on shooter. I had a perception that Malibu had stricter gun laws because there were fewer magazines. In reality the Malibu newsstands are stocked with fashion magazines and celebrity tabloids unlike the outdoor-themed selection in Durango.
8-29-2005
