Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 26, 1993 TAG: 9303260321
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MARGARET EDDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
WILDER RIDING HIGH ON GUN ISSUE
Gov. Douglas Wilder, who waged war with the National Rifle Association in Virginia and won, soon will be battling the powerful lobby in a larger arena.Wilder and New Jersey Gov. James Florio will be featured in a Handgun Control Inc. television ad aimed at promoting a national waiting period for handgun purchases, a spokeswoman for the gun control lobby confirmed Thursday.
The ad is due to be unveiled Tuesday, the 12th anniversary of an assassination attempt on former President Ronald Reagan. A handgun waiting period bill now before Congress is named after former presidential press secretary James Brady, who was wounded in that shooting.
The gist of the ad is that "both these governors showed the NRA can be defeated," said Susan Whitmore of Handgun Control Inc. The advertising "is aimed at encouraging Congress to also turn back the special-interest gun lobby."
The ad, which Wilder filmed Thursday in Richmond, is only part of his anticipated role in the push for national gun control legislation. Wilder is expected, through speeches and congressional testimony, to keep a high profile on guns as Congress debates passage of the Brady bill and a proposal limiting handgun purchases nationally to one per month.
Virginia has received national attention for the approval last winter of a bill requiring state police approval for multiple handgun sales. Florio this month beat back an attempt by the NRA to overturn a ban on assault weapons in the New Jersey state legislature.
Since passage of the Virginia bill, Wilder has "become an absolute hero in New Jersey and New York," said Rep. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., sponsor of the national gun-a-month bill, in a telephone interview. Rep. James Moran, an Alexandria Democrat, is co-sponsor of the bill.
"This is a fire lit in Virginia, and it will eventually consume Washington," predicted Torricelli. When Congress debates gun bills this year, "Governor Wilder will be called on to be part of that debate."
Wilder spokesman Glenn Davidson said Wilder intends to do what he can, "within reason," to promote national gun-control legislation. "He recognizes that Virginia's recently signed measures to control guns and curb violent crime are just a first step in the nation's battle," Davidson said.
The Handgun Control Inc. ad is being produced by Longworth Communications, a Richmond advertising and production agency.
A National Rifle Association spokesman did not respond to a request for an interview about the upcoming advertising campaign.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.