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L.A. City Council panel backs plan to give guns to park rangers

Los Angeles City Council member and mayoral candidate Joe Buscaino speaks at Los Angeles International Airport on June 4, 2021. (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

A key committee of the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday backed a proposal to provide guns to park rangers, over the objections of critics who said the city should be reducing its reliance on armed officers.

The Arts, Parks, Health, Education and Neighborhoods Committee voted 2-1 to endorse the proposal, with Councilmen Joe Buscaino and John Lee in favor.

Buscaino, who authored the proposal, said the city’s park rangers receive the same training as Los Angeles Police Department officers and respond to many of the same situations but are not armed when they do.

“I don’t see any logic here,” said Buscaino, a former LAPD officer.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.