WILDER PLAN ONE GUN A MONTH? JUST DO IT

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

DATE: THURSDAY, January 28, 1993                   TAG: 9301280362
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
WILDER PLAN ONE GUN A MONTH? JUST DO IT
THERE IS is a time-honored political maneuver in the Virginia General Assembly known as the shad treatment. "We don't want to hurt you, little fishie. We're just going to nail you to this plank and cut your guts out."
This process is sometimes called compromise.
As state lawmakers search for magic ifs, ands or buts that would make controversial gun-control legislation more palatable to its foes, or at least afford a fig leaf behind which to claim victory, the word "compromise" is circulating. Some may have in mind the shad treatment.
If legislators didn't have such a long record of appeasing gun lobbyists, the public might be more inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt.
The hot-button issue, of course, is Gov. Wilder's proposal for a one-a-month limit on handgun purchases. The National Rifle Association, joined by the Ku Klux Klan and others, adamantly opposes this, calling it a threat to constitutional rights and the American way of life. Legislators are dancing like raindrops on a sizzling charcoal grill.
Lawmakers would do well to reassure the suspicious that their intention is not eventually to outlaw gun ownership by law-abiding citizens.
But they also need to take action to fight violent crime in Virginia and to resist Virginia's shameful standing as a major supplier of guns for criminals up and down the East Coast. The limit on handgun purchases is a modest but helpful action.
Lawmakers are now advancing various proposals as "alternatives." Some are good ideas - for instance, proof of residency to get a Virginia driver's license, which is often used for identification by gun purchasers. They are not, however, good substitutes for the one-gun-a-month limit.
More than two-thirds of Virginians favor the governor's proposal, according to a new Mason-Dixon poll.
These Virginians believe the measure already contains reasonable exceptions - for gun collections, for instance, and for some other legitimate bulk purchases. Most Virginians do not understand why a lot of people need to buy more than 12 handguns a year. Those sponsoring "alternatives" have yet to offer sound reasons why anyone would.
The majority of Virginians are telling legislators there's no need to nail the governor's bill to the plank and weaken it with NRA-accommodating language. They're telling their representatives they want them finally to stand up to the gun lobby, to take a stand in favor of slowing the proliferation of guns and gun-related violence. They're telling them to pass the governor's measure, no ifs, ands or buts.
No one doubts that legislators know how to compromise. That they have courage requires, from time to time, a demonstration.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB