---

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

DATE: SUNDAY, January 3, 1993                   TAG: 9301040260
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: F-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

---

TENNIS RACKETS AREN'T RESTRICTED

CONSTANT ATTEMPTS are made to disarm the public with proposed legislation promoting more severe restrictions and additions to the present gun control laws. These attempts do not reinforce our guaranteed freedoms, but limit them on every hand.

Specifically, Gov. Wilder's Department of Health recently endorsed a statewide "waiting period" for the purchase of all firearms - unnecessary in light of the success of the present Virginia State Police instant check.

It endorsed limiting the number of handgun purchases during a thirty-day period. A handgun is essentially a sporting tool. Golf clubs, tennis rackets, sports cars - all tools - are not limited in style, size or quantity; then why should these types of restrictions be placed on the gun enthusiasts?

The tools for law enforcement and gun-related crime control already exist. To promote the enforcement of these laws and impose stiffer penalties for gun-related crimes would serve to lessen the crime rate far more effectively than additional restrictive laws. ARNOLD H. PRICE BLACKSBURG

---