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

DATE: TUESDAY, February 2, 1993                   TAG: 9302020337
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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NRA SHOULD WORK FOR GUN-CONTROL

THE RESPONSE of the National Rifle Association to Gov. Wilder's attempt to stop gunrunning in Virginia is irresponsible and unconscionable. The statistics are alarming: children carrying guns to school, shooting each other, children with semi-automatics, gangs gleefully spraying bullets in residential neighborhoods, snipers shooting from rooftops at ambulances and firetrucks, and so on.

The time is coming when the rest of us are going to scream loud and long enough to cow the most craven legislators. We are not organized and are, in effect, a silent mass. However, history is replete with examples of the consequences when the masses have had enough.

The majority of us are not against owning guns. They are tools, not fetishes, or symbols of virility or crutches for feelings of inadequacy.

Surely, there must be wise NRA members who sense this dissatisfaction with the use of guns and can lead the NRA into taking a position of wisdom and responsibility.

The NRA could drop those silly cliches and work with legislators to keep guns and their use where they belong. Thus, they would avoid what the NRA fears most. To keep focused, they should think of Somalia, where the situation is such that all guns must be confiscated.

CLEMENS J. ACKERMAN\ NEWPORT

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