TWO-THIRDS OF VIRGINIANS FAVOR GUN LIMIT

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

DATE: MONDAY, January 25, 1993                   TAG: 9301250053
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
TWO-THIRDS OF VIRGINIANS FAVOR GUN LIMIT
More than two-thirds of Virginians favor limiting handgun purchases to one per month, results of a new poll show.
A survey conducted by the Mason-Dixon Political-Media Research Inc. found 71 percent of Virginians said they support a limit on an individual's right to purchase a handgun; 27 percent oppose it and 2 percent said they are unsure.
Support was strongest in urban areas, like northern Virginia, with 79 percent in favor, and Tidewater, where about 74 percent were in favor. The most opposition was in southwest Virginia, where only 55 percent favored the proposal.
Gov. Douglas Wilder is pushing the one-gun-a-month proposal as a component of an anti-crime legislative package.
And although a bill to limit purchases to two per month was defeated in last year's General Assembly, legislators appear to be falling in line behind this year's stricter proposal.
"I think the attitude has changed," Senate Majority Leader Hunter Andrews of Hampton said Saturday in response to the poll. A co-patron of the one-gun bill in the Senate, he predicts the measure will pass.
"I think the public is just fed up with all the shootings with handguns," he said. "Some controls have to be brought about for safety. We just cannot continue to have all these shootings, particularly among young people."
In a sign that opposition to stricter limits is weakening, Del. Phillip Hamilton, R-Newport News, says that "in all probability" he will support the proposal. He voted against the two-gun-per-month limit in the last session.
The Mason-Dixon poll also indicated Wilder's positive ratings have stayed level since a poll in September, with 25 percent saying he has done a good or excellent job. His negative rating has improved, however. In the new poll, 25 percent say he is doing a poor job, down from 37 percent in September.
Attorney General Mary Sue Terry, the likely Democratic candidate for governor in November, has retained high positive ratings, with 62 percent saying she is doing a good or excellent job.
The poll found less agreement on a bill introduced by Del. James O'Brien, R-Clifton, that would ban homosexuals from serving in the Virginia National Guard. A slight plurality of voters oppose enacting such a ban, by a margin 45 percent to 39 percent; 16 percent were undecided.
Mason-Dixon interviewed 819 registered voters from Jan. 15 to Jan. 17. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Subscribers to the poll include The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star of Norfolk, The Journal Newspapers, the Daily Press in Newport News, The Register & Bee in Danville and the Northern Virginia Daily. Also, WTVR-TV in Richmond, WTKR-TV in Norfolk and WDBJ-TV in Roanoke.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB