HANDGUN BILL CLEARS HOUSE PANEL

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

DATE: SATURDAY, February 6, 1993                   TAG: 9302060199
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By MARGARET EDDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium
HANDGUN BILL CLEARS HOUSE PANEL
Gov. Douglas Wilder's handgun-a-month bill cleared a key hurdle Friday as a House committee voted 13-7 to send it to the House floor.
The tally, which included bipartisan support, came amid rumors that the administration and Republican moderates are nearing accord on a compromise that would assure passage of handgun legislation this session.
The proposal's next test comes Sunday afternoon, when the Senate Courts of Justice Committee is slated to act on a duplicate bill introduced in the upper house.
Gun-control enthusiasts applauded the House committee vote, while the gun lobby promised to fight on.
"I'm just as pleased as I can be right now," said Secretary of Public Safety Randolph Rollins. But he cautioned, "this battle is not over till it's over, and it's not over tonight."
National Rifle Association lobbyist Chuck Cunningham called the vote irrelevant. He suggested that gun owners and sportsmen will respond with an avalanche of fury.
But Cunningham declined to forecast the outcome on the House floor - an arena that both sides acknowledge is likely to pose more difficulty for Wilder.
During the day Friday, both Wilder and an assortment of Republicans hinted that some agreement on handgun limits may be in the works. Many Republicans have endorsed a plan that would allow multiple purchases by buyers who supplied police with proof of their identity and address.
"Our people are talking regularly," Wilder told reporters. "And to the extent that we can effectuate a compromise without losing the commitment to one gun per month as a bottom line, we're doing it. We're talking . . .
"I feel very good about it," he added.
Republicans also said privately that they're optimistic an agreement can be reached, possibly this weekend.
"It's on the road unless something breaks down," said one GOP delegate.
Another agreed, but declined to offer details because "it's still pretty delicate."
Both the House and Senate must act on the proposals by Tuesday, the deadline for each chamber to finish considering its own bills.
The Republican alternative fared poorly before the House Courts committee Friday, mustering only four GOP votes. Combining against it were 16 delegates, including both supporters of Wilder's bill and gun-control opponents.
Voting for the Wilder plan were nine Democrats and four Republicans. The most critical negative vote came from House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton, who is understood to oppose the bill but had not said so publicly.
Wilder has said the legislation is needed to curb illegal gun trafficking.
Opponents of the bill, primarily the NRA, have argued that the state should enforce laws already on the books.
The legislation, which has become the overriding issue of the General Assembly session, was not debated by the committee Friday night. The panel already had heard all the arguments from both sides.
The committee did hear briefly from Steven Agee, R-Salem, on his alternative.
"What we've tried to do is accomplish the same objective . . . but do it with a method that still can accommodate citizens who may wish to acquire more than one handgun in a month," he said.
He said any handgun purchaser with criminal intentions would shy away from the "eyeball-to-eyeball contact with police" that would be required under his proposal.
Four Republican committee members voted for the Democratic governor's bill.
Voting for the bill were:
James Almand, D-Arlington; Bernard Cohen, D-Alexandria; Chip Woodrum, D-Roanoke; W. Tayloe Murphy Jr., D-Warsaw; William Robinson, D-Norfolk; William Moore, D-Portsmouth; Jean Cunningham, D-Richmond; Jerrauld Jones, D-Norfolk; Alan Mayer, D-Fairfax; Clinton Miller, R-Woodstock; William Howell, R-Fredericksburg; Randy Forbes, R-Chesapeake; and William Mims, R-Leesburg.
Opposed were:
Cranwell; Roscoe Reynolds, D-Martinsville; Thomas Jackson, D-Hillsville; Joseph Johnson, D-Abingdon; John Davies, D-Culpeper; Steven Agee, R-Salem; and Tommy Baker, R-Dublin.
Voting for the Republican alternative, which was killed before the Wilder bill was considered, were Miller, Agee, Howell and Mims.
The Associated Press contributed information for this story.
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GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1993

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB