Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 28, 1993 TAG: 9301280099
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MARGARET EDDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
WILDER REJECTS GOP GUN PROPOSAL
Gov. Douglas Wilder held firm Wednesday against a Republican proposal to allow multiple gun purchases by individuals whose identity and address are certified by local or state police."We feel there are parts of the Republican plan that we endorse. This is not one of them," said Wilder. His proposed one-a-month limit on handgun purchases is the centerpiece of an anti-crime package that has become the pivotal issue of the 1993 General Assembly.
"The whole purpose is to educate the public that it's not necessary to have more than one a month," Wilder asserted.
But in a signal of the fluidity of the gun-control debate, Wilder's secretary of public safety telephoned a reporter later in the day to underscore that the administration still has an olive branch extended toward the GOP.
Wilder "continues to remain open to discussion of how to implement the limit," said Randolph Rollins, the governor's point man in steering gun legislation through the General Assembly.
A bipartisan coalition is needed for major gun legislation to pass this year. And on the GOP side as well, there was a variety of signals Wednesday as to how open lawmakers are to compromise.
At a press conference called to tout the GOP's gun ideas, Senate Minority Leader Joseph Benedetti of Richmond predicted that the 18 Republicans in the 40-member Senate would back their gun purchase plan over Wilder's.
But moments later, Sen. Kenneth Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, a key player in developing the GOP package, volunteered that negotiations are ongoing and that neither Wilder's allies nor Republicans have been "locked in" to any stand.
The GOP's anti-crime package would require anyone wanting more than one gun per month to provide police with proof of identity and residence.
"No criminal is going to walk into a police department or sheriff's department and say, `I want to buy handguns,' " said Sen. Edgar Robb, R-Charlottesville. At the same time, law-abiding citizens would not have their right to buy multiple firearms curtailed, he said.
In an interview, Wilder asserted that the GOP proposal would not stop out-of-state criminals from hiring Virginians to buy guns for them. "The problem now is that the guns are not being purchased by criminals," he said, but by "straw purchasers" who live in Virginia.
U.S. Attorney Richard Cullen, a Republican who is pushing for a purchase limit, said his concern is that straw purchasers still would be willing to buy guns - albeit for a higher fee because of the greater risk - under the GOP plan.
"It's obvious to me that cash isn't a problem with the drug organizations, and they will pay what it takes to get a front man or straw man to do what they want," he said. "If we capped it, we would take away the economic incentive."
Cullen praised the GOP caucus for its work on the issue, but said he is concerned that supporters of gun control may begin to fragment along partisan lines. "My big fear is that if several popular proposals are advanced, but nobody coalesces around one, we can have those who want to kill it do so," he said.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.