LONG BEACH - Assemblyman Warren Furutani has introduced a bill that would educate police officers on how to properly deal with blade-carrying members of the Sikh religion.
Baptized Sikhs are obligated by faith to carry a kirpan, a ceremonial sword or dagger at all times. Many practitioners - there are about 500,000 statewide - carry the instruments beneath their robes.
Sikhs carrying the devices sometimes find themselves in violation of concealed-weapons laws.
Furutani, D-Long Beach, said members of the religion feel singled out at times by law enforcement and that his proposal, Assembly Bill 504, would require all peace officers statewide to be educated about practitioners of the religion during basic training.
"It's part of their basic religious beliefs," Furutani said by phone from Sacramento. "It's ceremonial, its decorative, but at one time it was used to protect the faith, so to speak."
Baptized Sikhs are required by faith to carry the sword and other religious items, including a wooden comb and an iron bracelet. They also do not cut their hair.
Furutani said his goal is to educate officers, not make it legal for Sikhs - or anyone else - to carry concealed weapons without a permit.
However, he said, he would like Sikhs to be allowed to enjoy the same religious freedoms as everyone else.
"This has nothing to do with a weapon," he said. "It's a religious practice."
Because of misunderstandings, Furutani said arrests of Sikhs have gone up since 9-11.
In his bill, he called members of the faith "a vibrant, peaceful, and law-abiding part of the United States community."
The assemblyman for West and North Long Beach, Harbor City, Carson and Lakewood said he was asked to draft the bill because of his Asian heritage. Many Sikhs are from South Asian countries; Furutani, however, is fourth-generation Japanese American.
There are small communities of Sikhs in Furutani's 55th District, mainly in the South Bay, he said.
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