Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 9, 1993 TAG: 9302090116
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: MARGARET EDDS annd GREG SCHNEIDER STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
DELEGATES OK TOUGH GUN LIMIT
The House of Delegates passed a tough one-handgun-a-month purchase limit Monday, steamrolling a less-restrictive compromise announced earlier in the day by Gov. Douglas Wilder, law enforcement officials and a group of mostly-Republican lawmakers.The winning coalition in the 59-41 vote included a majority of both House Democrats and Republicans. The unexpectedly wide margin elated gun-control enthusiasts who saw it as proof of dramatic change in a body long defensive of the rights of gun owners.
"There is momentum to do more than `something,' " said David Weaver, a spokesman for Handgun Control Inc., the nation's leading gun-control lobby. "The National Rifle Association is out of the picture."
Meanwhile, however, a Senate committee set the two chambers on the road to a showdown by voting 12-3 for the compromise bill. Senators said the compromise is better than Wilder's original bill because it gives more-complete guidelines on who can be exempted from the one-a-month limit.
Each house is expected to give final approval to its approach today, pushing the issue toward a conference committee that would try to resolve differences.
Wilder's original bill "was full of Swiss cheese," said state Sen. Edward Holland, D-Arlington, one of the Democratic negotiators of the compromise.
That view was not shared by Handgun Control's Weaver, or by angry House Democrats who charged that Wilder had compromised too quickly on his original proposal.
While Weaver characterized the two approaches as a "win-win situation" for gun-control enthusiasts, he said Wilder's first plan was preferable. "The surest way to stop multiple handgun sales is to limit them outright," he said.
Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the NRA, said the compromise "is a lot more about politicians who are concerned about saving face than about a good bill."
The original gun-a-month bill passed by the House is "cosmetic gun control that does nothing to affect the reality of violent criminals in the state. You can hear the criminals laughing tonight," LaPierre said.
The compromise bill - unveiled at a packed morning news conference - would allow citizens to make multiple gun purchases if they first convinced law enforcement officials of their identity, their Virginia residence, and that they had a valid purpose for the purchases.
State police would have unrestricted authority to investigate the information provided by would-be buyers, and could deny applications found wanting.
Individuals who met the criteria would be granted multiple-purchase certificates, which would be valid for seven days and could not be transferred.
Supporters - including U.S. Attorney Richard Cullen and State Police Superintendent Carl Baker - acknowledged that the plan might allow some multiple buys. But they argued that few criminals would be so bold as to seek an exemption.
"I feel the bill is strengthened, and I feel this bill will pass," Wilder predicted. It will have "more of a deterrent effect than you might imagine."
Ten hours later, after the House vote, the governor issued a statement saying that while the two versions of the legislation differ, "the bottom line is the same. There will now be limits to handgun purchases in Virginia, and that number is one per month."
Some House leaders had less conciliatory words for Wilder, however.
House Speaker Thomas Moss, D-Norfolk, who led the push to retain the orginal bill, was dismayed over the compromise.
While he had spoken with Secretary of Public Safety O. Randolph Rollins, "the governor never talked to me about it," Moss said. Referring to Wilder's past troubles with the legislature, Moss claimed, "He's so concerned he's going to have another failure that he's willing to weaken this bill."
The compromise, Moss said, "weakens it to the point it will not be a good bill."
At a closed Democratic caucus Sunday night, all but a handful of Democrats agreed to join Moss in voting down the compromise and bringing the original bill to a vote. Gun-control enthusiasts said the first bill was tougher, while rural Democrats opposed to gun control said the compromise is a step closer to waiting periods and gun registration.
Early in the two-hour House debate, Del. Steve Agee, R-Salem, introduced the compromise. "This allows us to break the drugs-for-guns cycle and to do so in a way that makes accommodation for law-abiding citizens," he said.
But under questioning from Del. William Moore, D-Portsmouth, Agee acknowledged that the law would allow "an unlimited number" of multiple purchases by a law-abiding citizen.
Asked it a car dealer could decide to give handguns to his customers, Agee replied: "I don't know, but I doubt it."
News that the House had resoundingly defeated the compromise initially sent the Senate Courts of Justice Committee into a funk.
"Obviously, it isn't going to fly. We ought to end the charade" and go back to the original proposal, said Sen. Richard Saslaw, D-Springfield.
But after other members insisted the compromise was actually stricter than the original, the committee began firming its resolve.
"I don't think it matters a whit what has happened on the other side of the Capitol at this time," said Holland, who carried both the original gun-a-month bill and the compromise in the Senate. Republican Sen. Joseph Benedetti also supported the compromise, highlighting its bipartisan backing.
If it comes to a showdown between a compromising Senate and a stubborn House, lawmakers said, something will give.
"My prediction would be that something will come out, because I think pressure for gun control has taken the upper hand," said Sen. Joseph Gartlan Jr., D-Fairfax County. "I'm getting calls from Northern Virginia that say not only to support gun control, but to support the strongest possible bill."
\ YEA OR NAY\ ON THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES VOTE ON GOV. WILDER'S COMPROMISE GUN-CONTROL BILL
\ IN FAVOR: Steve Agee, R-Salem; Clifton Woodrum, D-Roanoke
\ OPPOSED: Ward Armstrong, D-Martinsville; Tommy Baker, R-Radford; Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton; Joyce Crouch, R-Lynchburg; Creigh Deeds, D-Warm Springs; Willard Finney, D-Rocky Mount; Thomas Jackson, D-Hillsville; G.C. Jennings, D-Marion; Joseph Johnson, D-Abingdon; Joan Munford, D-Blacksburg; Lacey Putney, I-Bedford; Roscoe Reynolds, D-Martinsville; Jackie Stump, D-Buchanan County; Victor Thomas, D-Roanoke