Amid complaints Congress is failing to address gun safety, Los Angeles city leaders backed a sweeping new ordinance Tuesday requiring local handgun owners to safely lock up their weapons or face misdemeanor charges. 

The proposed law, set to be one of the strictest in the California, follows a national trend of children and teens accessing unattended handguns with sometimes fatal results, said Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian, who spearheaded the ordinance. 

“It will help protect children,” Krekorian said of the law. “ It will help prevent momentary instances of anguish from becoming tragic suicides.” 

Under the ordinance, which returns next week to the council for a vote, gun owners must store their firearms in a locked container or disable them with a trigger lock.  Guns don’t have to be stored if the weapon is carried or “within close proximity and control that the owner can readily retrieve and use the handgun as if carried on the person.” 

Lawmakers and city attorneys worked on the wording up until Tuesday’s City Council vote after pushback from gun advocacy groups and several City Council members, who sought the additional word “control” in the law.  Critics feared that without that phrase, gun owners could leave their weapon on a bedside table, for instance, and fall asleep. 

With the final law, gun owners are responsible for their weapon, advocates believe. 

“We have a safe gun storage law that we can be proud of,” said Margot Bennett, executive director of Los Angeles-based Women Against Gun Violence. 

Bennett said her group isn’t concerned the law only applies to handguns, saying so-called “long guns” aren’t as much of an issue. 

The ordinance drew immediate condemnation Tuesday from the National Rifle Association.  Chuck Michel, an attorney representing the NRA, said the ordinance “illegally impedes” on existing state law that applies felony criminal penalties for the improper storage of firearms. 

While NRA backs safe storage, it should be a “personal decision based upon the specific needs of the firearm owner,” Michel said. 

“Single women who live alone in high-crime areas, and who may require prompt access to a firearm for self-defense, do not have the same storage needs as families in gated communities,” he said. 

NRA spokeswoman Amy Hunter said in a statement the NRA opposes government-mandated storage regulations. 

“So-called ‘safe storage’ laws have nothing to do with safety,” Hunter said. “ They merely serve as a tool for gun-control politicians to disarm law abiding gun owners.” 

Krekorian said he expected lawsuits over the new ordinance. 

San Francisco, which passed a similar safe-storage law, has survived legal challenges to their ordinance, said Juliet Leftwich, legal director of San Francisco’s Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. 

Under California law, gun owners may be guilty of a misdemeanor or a felony if a child under the age of 18 accesses and uses the gun, resulting in injury or death or brings it to a public place. 

Los Angeles’ law goes further than state law, Krekorian argues, by penalizing gun owners even if their weapon isn’t accessed by a child.  A gun owner could face up to six months in jail or $10,000 fine, he said. 

Tuesday’s vote secured the City Council’s reputation as a legislative body focused on stricter gun laws, <URL destination="http://www.dailynews.com/social-affairs/20150728/los-angeles-council-passes-law-banning-possession-of-large-capacity-gun-magazines">coming a week after lawmakers approved a ban on the possession of high-capacity magazines. 

</URL>A handful of council members shared personal anecdotes about guns at Tuesday’s hearing, with Councilman Bob Blumenfield telling his colleagues, “When my kids go out on play dates, we sometimes call up the parents and ask, “Is there a gun in the house?  Is it locked up?” 

Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer has also joined his colleagues in seeking tougher gun restrictions, and last year helped found Prosecutors Against Gun Violence, a national group focused on gun policy. 

“The L.A. City Council is clearly out in front on issues of gun control,” said Adam Winkler, a UCLA professor and expert in gun laws. “ Along with San Francisco, they are pushing the boundaries for gun safety regulations.” 

Winkler said gun control advocates, disappointed that federal gun laws didn’t follow the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut, shooting, are increasingly seeking reforms at the local level. 

Krekorian said he hopes more state and local governments will follow Los Angeles’ lead on passing gun control laws, saying Congress hasn’t tackled the issue. 

“Like most Americans, I am deeply disappointed that our national government has utterly failed to address the consequences of gun violence,” Krekorian said.