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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 6, 1991                   TAG: 9102060315
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

D.C. REPEALS GUN LAW

The District of Columbia Council repealed the nation's toughest anti-assault weapons law on Tuesday after Capitol Hill critics said it threatened a special $100 million payment the city seeks from Congress.

By voice vote, the 13-member panel withdrew the law, which would have made manufacturers and dealers of assault weapons liable for injuries and deaths caused by their products.

Mayor Sharon Pratt Dixon said the law, which has not yet become effective, jeopardized the district's chances of gaining the appropriation to help close the city's $300 million budget gap.

Sales of most types of guns have been banned in the District since 1976, but police say that guns flow freely into the city through a black market and from sales in Virginia and Maryland.

by CNB