
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 23, 1990                   TAG: 9005230295
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SENATE KILLS MOVE TO BAN MORE GUNS

The U.S. Senate defeated efforts Tuesday to enlarge a feature of its omnibus crime bill that would ban nine semiautomatic assault weapons. Conservatives urged more stringent criminal laws instead.

The Senate voted 82-17 to kill a move by Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio, to expand from nine to 21 the number of semiautomatic weapons that would be outlawed. Two Republicans joined 15 Democrats in the attempt to keep the measure alive.

Conservatives then launched efforts to delete any prohibitions on firearms ownership from the measure as the Senate worked into the night.

The Senate rang with denunciations of the National Rifle Association, which lobbied hard to kill not only Metzenbaum's amendment but the more limited provision to ban nine types of assault rifles.

Earlier, representatives of police groups had urged the Senate to defy the powerful lobbying group and approve the legislation. - Associated Press

by CNB