THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 8, 1995 TAG: 9508080002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
It was revealed last week that House Speaker Newt Gingrich had promised in a letter to the National Rifle Association early this year to block all gun control legislation.
``As long as I am speaker of this House,'' he wrote, ``no gun control legislation is going to move in committee or on the floor of the House.''
Gingrich didn't just say he'd block gun control legislation - he put it in writing.
His promise is interesting in light of a study released Wednesday indicating that a two-year-old Virginia gun control law is working as intended - reducing by more than half Virginia's role as illegal firearms supermarket for the Northeast.
The law, which took effect July 1, 1993, restricts purchases of handguns to one a month.
The study was of guns seized in crime investigations in the Northeast that had been purchased in the Southeast. It showed that 35 percent of all those guns bought before July 1993 came from Virginia, while only 16 percent of those guns bought after July 1993 came from Virginia.
When then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder signed the law, he said it would end Virginia's reputation as ``the gun-running capital of America.'' Apparently it will.
Criminals in the Northeast may have just as many guns as ever, but at least they are shopping elsewhere. They are not the tourists the commonwealth had in mine when it adopted the slogan ``Virginia is for lovers.''
It was revealed last week that House Speaker Newt Gingrich had promised in a letter to the National Rifle Association early this year to block all gun-control legislation.
``As long as I am speaker of this House,'' he wrote, ``no gun-control legislation is going to move in committee or on the floor of the House.''
Gingrich didn't just say he'd block gun-control legislation - he put it in writing.
His promise is interesting in light of a study released Wednesday indicating that a two-year-old Virginia gun-control law is working as intended - reducing by more than half Virginia's role as illegal firearms supermarket for the Northeast.
The law, which took effect July 1, 1993, restricts purchases of handguns to one a month.
The study was of guns seized in crime investigations in the Northeast that had been purchased in the Southeast. It showed that 35 percent of all those guns bought before July 1993 came from Virginia, while only 16 percent of those guns bought after July 1993 came from Virginia.
When then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder signed the law, he said it would end Virginia's reputation as ``the gun-running capital of America.'' Apparently it will.
Criminals in the Northeast may have just as many guns as ever, but at least they are shopping elsewhere. They are not the tourists the commonwealth had in mind when it adopted the slogan ``Virginia is for lovers.'' by CNB