SAN FRANCISCO -- Proposals to ban handguns and prevent military recruiters from visiting schools would seem like surefire hits with voters in peace-loving San Francisco.
But days before Tuesday's election, two ballot measures dealing with these typically passion-provoking topics face uncertain fates. One would prohibit the sale of firearms and ammunition. The other would oppose _ in word only _ the presence of military recruiters at public high schools and colleges.
The rhetoric over the two proposals has been so restrained, in fact, that Mayor Gavin Newsom has not felt compelled to take a public position on them.
"I haven't given either that much thought, and as mayor you are not supposed to say that," Newsom said. "Both are intellectually interesting, but beyond that, people are looking more pragmatically as to whether we repave our roads or whether the community college bond passes."
Most political observers, Newsom included, think the measures will pass Tuesday, but they have sparked so little interest and debate that even the most seasoned pundits cannot say for sure.
"They might not be the sure things people assume they are," said David Binder, a local pollster who found broad support for the concept of a gun ban before Proposition H was put on the ballot by five members of the Board of Supervisors in December.
The gun initiative would ban the manufacture, distribution, sale and transfer of firearms and ammunition in San Francisco. It also would prohibit private residents from keeping handguns in their homes or businesses, with an exception for law enforcement, security guards and others who require weapons for work. Current gun owners would have to surrender their arms by April if the measure passes.
Only two other major U.S. cities _ Washington and Chicago _ have implemented such sweeping handgun bans.
The military recruitment initiative, dubbed "College Not Combat," would encourage city officials and university administrators to exclude recruiters and create scholarships and training programs that would reduce the military's appeal to young adults. But as a nonbinding resolution, Proposition I would not ban the armed forces from seeking enlistees at city campuses. A ban would put schools at risk of losing federal funding.
The initiative put on the ballot by anti-war groups is part of a larger national "counter-recruitment" battle being fought over the exclusion of openly gay service members and the war in Iraq. Last November, city voters approved a similarly symbolic measure urging the U.S. to pull troops from the Middle East.
