GUN WATCH : No Safe Place

San Marino, like other affluent enclaves with manicured lawns, million-dollar homes and acclaimed schools, is not the kind of place one would expect to find gangs and guns. But with the shooting deaths of two teen-agers at a house party last Saturday, residents there got a tragic glimpse of the gun violence that is spreading across Southern California.

A similar horrifying scenario played itself out in Venice Tuesday morning when assailants fired 20 rounds from an AK-47 rifle into a crowd of teen-agers. Again, police suspect the unholy combination of guns and gangs. Again, children got caught in the cross fire. Thankfully, no one was killed--this time.

The San Marino killings occurred despite a security detail at the party and the use of a hand-held metal detector to check guests at the door. Authorities say that two gang members who had been asked to leave returned with semiautomatic weapons and raked party-goers with gunfire, wounding several students and killing David Heng, 15, and Dennis Buan, 18.

Some San Marino residents are pushing for a youth curfew and/or stepped-up police presence for large parties. Such ideas are fine, but they don’t strike at the heart of the problem. Over the past decade, there has been an 80% increase in the number of juveniles committing murders with guns. Gunfire now causes one in four deaths among people 15 to 19 years old.

A bullet does not discriminate by race, gender, age, economic status or geography. That was made brutally clear in San Marino Saturday night and Venice Tuesday morning.