There's at least one San Franciscan not looking forward to implementation of the city's voter-approved gun ban on Jan. 1.

For a long time, Margaret Hurst lived in fear. Gangs control turf just a few blocks from her Mission District apartment in San Francisco, and she's sure a neighbor across the street deals drugs. Her building was broken into four times in one year. She saw teenagers on her street display a gun. And while she was stopped at a red light one day, a man tried to punch in her car window in a case of road rage. So she bought a handgun. Now Hurst is no longer scared.

"I'll tell you one thing. If I'm going down, I'm taking them with me," said 49-year-old Hurst, who is about as un-Charlton Heston as any woman with a British accent, braided bun and long flowing skirt could be.

...Backers of the law known as Proposition H include San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly, who placed the measure on the ballot with three other supervisors.
At a time when San Francisco is experiencing a wave of homicides, backers concede that the ban will not solve the problem of violence, but say the law will at least help curb violence.

"There are other ways that people can defend themselves in their homes," said Bill Barnes, a spokesman for the Prop. H campaign. "Let's say someone breaks into this woman's house and steals her gun and gets in a gunfight. The proliferation of handguns has made the city less safe."

Um, let's say someone breaks into this woman's home while she's there and is trying to steal from her, injure or kill her? She should submit, pray they don;t kill or maim her anyway, and then dial 911?

If the NRA's suit to block the ban fails, I guess more San Franciscans for self-defense will just have to buy pit bulls.

TECHNORATI TAGS: SAN FRANCISCO, GUN BAN, CRIME, NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at December 5, 2005 07:13 PM