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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 27, 1993                   TAG: 9301270316
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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SYMBOLISM WON'T STOP VIOLENT CRIME

IS THERE anybody out there who thinks a one-gun-a-month limit on handguns is going to have one iota's effect on violent crime on the streets of New York City? Criminals who want guns will steal them, make zip guns, or use other methods - like that guy in New York who threw a flaming gas can into a night club and killed 87 people. If you read of such a murderous rampage, would you sigh with relief and think, "At least they weren't killed with a handgun from Virginia."

We have violent crime in this country because we not only tolerate it, but we reward it. One example: Michael Gartner, president of NBC News, has stated that he thinks handguns should be banned. Yet NBC paid Amy Fisher $80,000 for her story. And what did she do that they thought was worth $80,000? She used a handgun to shoot somebody. (Something we can all agree on: A one Amy Fisher-movie-a-month limit.)

We have problems in this country because our legislatures enact laws as symbolic gestures. If this one-gun-a-month law passes, violent crime will continue, oblivious to all the symbolism. JOHN KELL BLACKSBURG

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