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

DATE: TUESDAY, January 12, 1993                   TAG: 9301120401
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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FOR MANY, GUNS SPOILED THE HOLIDAYS

I HOPE most people enjoyed the holiday season this year. I know that not everyone did, because for more than 12,000 American families, the holidays were spent without one of their loved ones.

That's because 12,090 men, women and children were murdered with handguns in 1991, and we can expect that at least that many died in 1992. When you include all of the Americans who died from all kinds of guns, including those killed in suicides and accidents, the number is more than 27,000. That means more than 27,000 families spent Christmas without someone they loved because guns are so readily available in America.

Virginians could be doing something to stop this bloodshed. A recent federal study showed that 36 percent of handguns recovered from crime scenes nationally were first bought over the counter in Virginia. The governor has proposed some reasonable restrictions on the sale of guns that would help cut down on this violence. These include a limit of one handgun purchase per person per month. The criminals fear the passage of this law, and it would do nothing to hurt hunters or other legal gun-owners. BOBBY BURKE DAYTON

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