Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 17, 1993 TAG: 9302170127
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARGARET EDDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
TOUGHER GUN BILL IN THE LEAD
Key players in the General Assembly's one-handgun-per-month debate signaled Tuesday that the state Senate may be moving toward a tough version of the gun control bill and away from a compromise engineered by Gov. Douglas Wilder and Republicans.Such a vote would be a major victory for House Speaker Thomas Moss - who salvaged the original, tougher plan last week and pushed it through the House after Wilder abandoned it. The Senate already has passed the compromise plan.
The change also would likely be applauded by gun control groups, which view the House bill slightly more favorably than the compromise.
The compromise exempts purchases for "lawful business or personal use" from the one-a-month limit. The House plan does not.
Indications that the tougher bill was gaining support in the Senate came from Secretary of Public Safety Randolph Rollins, who represents Wilder in the gun negotiations, and Sen. Edward Holland, D-Arlington, who heads the Senate committee reviewing the legislation.
Both men also indicated their neutrality in the debate over the best form of the bill - an apparent shift since last week when Wilder, Rollins and Holland endorsed the compromise.
"I have not taken a count," said Holland, when asked whether votes have shifted in the Senate. He added that the House version now "has a reasonable chance in the Senate."
"I think the sentiment seems to be going in that direction," agreed Rollins.
Wilder, who had made a tough gun limit the centerpiece of his legislative program this year, stunnedlegislators on both sides of the debate when he announced the compromise last week. He said then that the original bill "is strengthened, and I feel this bill will pass."
Within an hour, however, Moss announced he would continue to support the original bill. The House - in a 59-41 vote that stunned longtime gun control advocates - backed him.
Tuesday, Rollins said he and Wilder have no preference as to which bill passes. "Our feeling is that both versions stop the proliferation of gun trafficking," he said. "Our objectives are accomplished either way."
Rollins denied that Wilder has backed off his support for the compromise. Soon after the House vote, Rollins noted, Wilder said both plans were good, and it was up to the legislature to settle the differences.
One of the key architects of the compromise - Sen. Kenneth Stolle, R-Virginia Beach - said the administration "can say what they want to, but the bill hasn't changed" since the compromise was announced.
"If it was the better bill then, it's the better bill today," he said.
It was unclear when the Senate will next act on the gun legislation. The House Courts of Justice Committee, taking up the Senate-passed compromise Tuesday, rewrote it to match the House plan and sent it to the floor on a 10-4 vote. If it's passed again there, as expected, it could go back to the Senate floor by week's end for a final vote.
The original House bill also remains in the Senate Courts of Justice Committee and could be considered there today or Sunday.
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GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1993