Six manufacturers in the Los Angeles area produce at least 80 percent of the easily concealed, inexpensive handguns known as "Saturday Night Specials," according to a study by UC Davis physician and researcher Dr. Garen Wintemute. Small handguns made by the so-called "Ring of Fire" companies are 3.4 times more likely to be involved in a crime than those from other major manufacturers, and the number of guns is likely to increase, says Wintemute, who directs the Violence Prevention Research Program at UC Davis. "This study takes a public health approach to firearms violence and indicts the industry," he says. Firearms experts consider most of these new guns -- more than 685,000 each year -- to be so poorly manufactured and unreliable that they would fail to meet the minimum federal standards imposed upon imported guns. Although public funds pay most of the medical care costs due to firearms violence, he says, "Congress has deliberately exempted U.S. companies and has prohibited federal regulatory agencies, such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, from taking action."