GUN BILL SIGNED AT GALA

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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 24, 1993                   TAG: 9303240261
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium
GUN BILL SIGNED AT GALA
Like members of a championship team fondly reliving their finest hour, dozens of players in the "gun-a-month" bill victory gathered Tuesday to snap group photos, munch Executive Mansion canapes, and watch Gov. Douglas Wilder put pen to paper on the nationally heralded legislation.
An invitation-only crowd joined Wilder, who turned the signing of the gun-limit legislation and 18 other crime bills into a garden party instead of the usual stiff conference-room affair.
"Not long ago - December - the pundits and the experts said it couldn't be done. . . . They said the NRA [National Rifle Association] was too powerful, and that Virginia was too conservative," said Wilder, who stood on a riser erected among the budding dogwoods and tulips outside the mansion.
"Now the rest of the entire nation is looking to Virginia for leadership," he said.
Wilder aides say he considers the gun bill, which requires state police approval for anyone wanting to buy more than one handgun a month, to be one of the three major achievements of his administration. The others are management of the state's fiscal crisis and approval last year of a statewide bond package.
A bipartisan crowd of politicians and civic activists turned out for Tuesday's bill signings. Included are measures that limit juveniles' access to handguns, limit parole for violent offenders, require proof of residency to receive a Virginia driver's license, and take a variety of other steps to crack down on crime.
"No single piece of legislation really reduces crime. But the combination is a good package," said Richmond Police Chief Marty Tapscott.
Wilder renamed the gun limit legislation as the Cavazos-Draughn bill in honor of a recently slain state trooper and a murdered McDonald's security guard. The families of both men joined him in the ceremony, along with major players in the passage of his crime package.
"In memory of these two brave men, Virginia says today that we will never again let differences of party, region, race or belief stand in the way of our efforts to protect the people," said Wilder.
The moment was not without political overtones.
Conspicuous in his absence was House Speaker Thomas Moss, D-Norfolk, a fellow Democrat who complained that Wilder allowed Republicans too large a role in shaping the bill.
He was invited to the signing, Moss acknowledged in an interview, but stayed home because "I knew what was going to happen" in terms of giving credit to Republicans. "I assume the governor is trying to help as many Republicans get elected as he can. . . . He's been doing it for several years."
Among those on the platform were three Democratic and three Republican lawmakers. There appeared to be more Republican than Democratic legislators in the audience.
With the sun peeping through threatening clouds, Wilder seemed undaunted. The victory signals the power of the electorate, he said. "If you can do it with the gun bill, God knows what you can do."

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB