GUN BILL STALEMATE DIMS ITS CHANCES

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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 24, 1993                   TAG: 9302240327
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium
GUN BILL STALEMATE DIMS ITS CHANCES
The General Assembly continued its standoff Tuesday over a proposed one-per-month handgun sales limit, signaling that prospects probably are fading for direct passage of a tough cap approved by the House earlier in the session.
The best hope for those who prefer the House version to a compromise Senate bill - described by Handgun Control Inc. as slightly weaker, but still good - may be for both bills to wind up in a conference committee.
Such a committee, composed of three delegates and three senators, would be charged with reconciling the differences. Both chambers would have to act on the recommendations before they became law.
House Speaker Thomas Moss, D-Norfolk, who has been championing the tougher bill, said he is continuing his push to rally House votes behind it. But he added, "I recognize the legislature is a bicameral body."
If he is unable to get as tough a bill as he'd like this year, he'll simply try again next year, Moss said.
Meanwhile, Republicans who support the Senate version of the handgun purchase limit, the product of a deal between Republican senators and Gov. Douglas Wilder, said they are confident of their support in the Senate. And they predicted that in the House, a combination of Republicans and rural Democrats - most of whom oppose any handgun limit - will keep the Senate bill intact.
With adjournment scheduled for Saturday, both houses will have to consider the gun alternatives either today or Thursday. Only bills that are in committees of conference can be voted on Friday and Saturday.
There are several differences between the gun bills. The Senate version would allow multiple sales for "lawful business and personal use." It spells out more precisely how exemptions would be handled administratively, and it gives state police less discretion to turn down multiple-sale applicants who meet criteria set out in the law.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB