CRIME MAY NOT PAY BUT TAXPAYERS WILL

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

DATE: TUESDAY, March 9, 1993                   TAG: 9303090333
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
CRIME MAY NOT PAY BUT TAXPAYERS WILL
VOTERS in Virginia need to take an immediate and hard look at the "gun-control" bills that Gov. Wilder and various lawmakers are attempting to foist upon us.
With inflammatory phrases like "one-gun-a-month" and "in-depth background check," the spark of a carefully calculated political ploy was soon fanned to flames by winds of rhetoric. Proponents, from the fanatics to the concerned to those just plain tired of hearing this bickering, chanted "who's it gonna hurt to get only one gun a month?"
We know it won't hurt the criminal, because he gets his guns illegally by fraud, theft or whatever. Maybe it will even force the criminal to rob several people or places several times (you know, one gun per person per month) to accumulate enough guns to make a gunrunning trip profitable. But, doesn't that indicate an increase in crime?
We know for sure that some will be hurt: that same bunch of legal-gun buyers who have been shelling out that $2 instant-background-check fee, the same bunch that I guesstimate buys 99 percent of legally sold guns.
Hmm, $2 per gun multiplied by the number of guns sold. Money. Bureaucrats. Need more money. How? Aha! In-depth background checks involve more work, which justifies a bigger fee. More administrative costs justify an even bigger fee. Where to find the extra fees? The taxpayers, because, after all, they supported this bill.
Even though proponents admit there will be very little reduction in crime, they insist that this is "a step in the right direction." In my opinion, they're stepping on someone other than the criminal. MICHAEL E. DALTON SR. BLACKSBURG

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB