ROANOKE TIMES 

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

DATE: TUESDAY, January 26, 1993                   TAG: 9301260487
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PUT AWAY GUNS, NOT PEOPLE

I PROPOSE that the news media, as well as legislators and concerned citizens, henceforth substitute the word "people-killer" for the words gun, pistol, revolver, handgun, automatic pistol, machine gun, assault gun, etc., whenever referring to any weapons.

This is proper because these tools of destruction have no other designed purpose or worth than to kill or maim people, whether intentionally, accidentally or in self-defense. For those who desire their use in playing at target practice, use tomatoes; for those who wish to collect them as playthings, collect stamps instead; and for those who wish to put away people, become undertakers.

There may be justification for the purchase of a single weapon once in a lifetime. Legislation to set a sales limit of one "people-killer" a month to a given purchaser is a farce. Anyone taking advantage of such a lenient law is either accumulating an arsenal or illegally reselling the "people-killers."

I also propose that the state take over the exclusive sale of any and all firearms through its various local law-enforcement departments. This should include a 10-day waiting period before delivery of the purchase. (The precedent for this exclusive state sale of a product is the ABC control of liquor. You also have the federal government's exclusive right to sell postage stamps.) Any profits from such sales should cover overhead and be used for crime prevention.

The promiscuous sale of firearms in Virginia and other states is gradually putting into place all the parts of a picture, "Somalia in America." More weapons becoming available will only intensify the potential of civil strife, such as we saw recently in Los Angeles. We already see evidence of American-style "technicals" riding around in vehicles shooting at will.

There are 5 million Virginians who are not members of the 80,000-member National Rifle Association. Those people want to see an end to the murder, mayhem and bad reputation of the state caused by the readily available arsenals. They are calling on their representatives to enact legislation that will bring this about. JACK M. GOODYKOONTZ ROANOKE 




 by Bhavesh Jinadra

 by CNB