Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 5, 1992 TAG: 9201050067
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROB EURE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
GUN-CONTROL BACKERS WILL TRY AGAIN
Control of handgun sales has provided some of the most animated debate in the General Assembly in recent years, and this winter, gun-control proponents promise to return.Aside from establishing a first-in-the-nation program of instant background checks of handgun purchases, Virginia's legislature has remained a stronghold for the National Rifle Association and defenders of the right to bear arms.
Last year, though, House Democratic leaders fell just five votes shy of winning approval of a bill providing for a statewide referendum on a three-day waiting period for handgun buyers.
Del. Jean Cunningham, D-Richmond, promised to try that bill again, and said she expects to gain support.
"I think some legislators found out in the elections this fall that the feelings out there against gun control aren't as strong as they thought," Cunningham said. A waiting period would help "keep down crimes of passion when the person doesn't already own a gun."
City governments in Norfolk and Richmond also are pressing for legislation to limit people to purchasing one handgun a month statewide. Virginia long has been thought to be a supplier for gunrunners up and down the East Coast. Del. William Robinson, D-Norfolk, is expected to carry that measure.
Despite what they feel is growing public support, gun-control proponents have lost some key advocates in the legislature.
The defeat of Sen. Moody Stallings, D-Virginia Beach, has removed the most active gun control legislator from that chamber.
And House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton, one of the waiting period's most influential backers last year, has cooled to the idea.
"The feds have got the waiting period in their sights now," Cranwell said. "My feeling is that Virginia ought to focus now on the instant record check and work to get that capability into the federal system so perhaps we can get the cost of those checks off the backs of Virginians."
President Bush vetoed a bill this fall that would have established a seven-day waiting period on handgun purchases. But Virginia would have been exempt from that provision because it has the background check system. Opponents of gun control say the background check is a better answer to curbing firearms crime and are working to implement a national system for checking the criminal record of gun purchasers at the time of sale.\ MAKING YOUR VOICE HEARD:
\ For gun control:
Del. Jean Cunningham, P.O. Box 406, Richmond 23203. Phone (804) 786-6700.
Handgun Control Inc., 1225 I St., Washington D.C. 20005. Phone (202) 898-0792.
\ Against Gun Control:
Del. Victor Thomas, D-Roanoke, P.O. Box. 406, Richmond 23203. Phone (804) 786-6900.
National Rifle Association, P.O. Box 690-31, Washington, D.C. 20090. Phone (703) 683-8666.