NO LONGER THE 19TH CENTURY

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

DATE: SATURDAY, January 30, 1993                   TAG: 9302010241
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
NO LONGER THE 19TH CENTURY
THE JAN. 27 commentary by Del. Vic Thomas repeats all the old cliches of the National Rifle Association that we have come to expect of the writer. For example, the "constitutional right to bear arms," which most people (of common sense) acknowledge was intended for militiamen, not every Tom, Dick, Harry and Mary.
The real issue is the enormous number of weapons in our society, but somehow Del. Thomas and the National Rifle Association manage to evade it. This time he suggests correcting weaknesses in the drivers-license system.
None of the complicated suggestions for controlling gun distribution will ever work, for the simple reason that gun dealers and manufacturers don't want their business curtailed. They don't want the public to examine the real issue, the aforementioned sheer numbers of these deadly weapons in the hands, not just of criminals but of ordinary citizens and their children.
We no longer live in the 19th-century frontier days when it was every man for himself. I for one don't want to live in an environment where everyone is packing his or her own .38. The majority of our citizens are fed up with the national scandal of thousands of deaths from gunfire.
I recommend the Jan. 21 article by David A. de Wolf, "An arms-load of gun-control myths" and also the letter Jan. 26 by Jack Goodykoontz, "Put away guns, not people." MARCIA WEIS ROANOKE

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB