Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 26, 1993 TAG: 9302260465
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
ASSEMBLY ADOPTS GUN LIMIT BILL
Capping weeks of debate and a broad-based push by civic, business and political leaders, the General Assembly gave final approval Thursday to a bill generally limiting Virginians to one handgun purchase a month.The bill, which awaits only the signature of its principal patron - Gov. Douglas Wilder - was stripped of a loophole exempting private sales between individuals.
The action, climaxed by a 60-40 House vote, drew a variety of reviews: superlatives from Wilder, U.S. Attorney Richard Cullen, Handgun Control Inc., and suburban Republicans who championed the final version; subdued praise from House Speaker Thomas W. Moss, Norfolk Del. William Robinson and others who preferred a more restrictive bill; and outrage from spokesmen for the National Rifle Association.
Chuck Cunningham, an NRA lobbyist, termed the decision to regulate private sales "abominable" and predicted that it will be impossible to enforce. The legislature "made it a criminal act to transfer two handguns to your brother at the same time," he said.
Gun-control supporters countered that exempting individual sales would have invited widespread abuse.
"It's great. . . . This is going to stop gun trafficking. There's no disagreement among the people who are going to enforce it," said Cullen, a Republican who helped rally bipartisan support in a state where gun control long has been anathema.
The bill headed for Wilder's desk would require individuals who want to purchase more than one handgun a month to receive a special permit from the state police. Recipients would be required to provide proof of identity and Virginia residency and to state the purpose of the multiple gun purchase.
Moss, Robinson and others complained that the plan - product of a compromise between Wilder and suburban Republicans - is too lenient because it allows multiple handgun sales for any "lawful business and personal use." They also advocated giving the state police more discretion to deny permits.
But backers argued that the plan protects honest citizens while striking at gunrunners. Criminals will be unlikely to go "eyeball-to-eyeball" with police by applying for a permit, they argued.
Law enforcement officials say the easy availability of guns and the accessibility of Interstate 95 has made Virginia a - perhaps "the" - major source of illegal guns in cities such as New York and Washington, D.C.
"The compromise strikes a balance between the legitimate concerns of law-abiding citizens and the need to stop gun-running in Virginia," said Sen. Kenneth Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, a key figure in fashioning the compromise with Wilder.
Appropriately with a bill that had been the source of numerous back-room strategy huddles and high-level maneuvering, there was an element of intrigue in the final hours of the handgun debate.
Action began Thursday morning with the Senate's approval, 35-3, of the Wilder-GOP compromise, with the House amendment exempting private sales attached.
But, at Wilder's request, senators reconsidered their stand in the afternoon. Action then shifted to the House, where delegates voted on a second bill, identical to the one before the Senate but without the private-sales loophole.
The maneuvering prompted a flurry of lobbying, with both NRA and Handgun Control lobbyists buttonholing delegates. Before the balloting, Republicans and Democrats caucused separately. Urban Democrats, who favored a tougher bill, were warned that a delay might leave them with no bill at all. Suburban Republicans, some of whom had voted for the private-sales amendment, were warned that retaining it might jeopardize the bill.
A result was the 60-40 vote for passage.
"The activity on the floor [Wednesday] indicated to me that some members, in concert with the NRA, were attempting to kill the whole package," Moss said in a statement issued after the vote. "Given that, I did not want to risk any harm to what we all wish - the enactment of a handgun bill."
While Moss called the plan "a significant first step toward putting an end to the gunrunning that has marred the reputation of this great commonwealth," at least one strong supporter of gun limits, Del. Jerrauld Jones, D-Norfolk, held firm against it. He had argued passionately for the more restrictive bill Wilder originally introduced.
David Weaver, a lobbyist for Handgun Control Inc., the nation's leading gun-control group, said the bill puts Virginia in the second tier of states with tough handgun laws, trailing only California, New York and New Jersey.
"Virginia is going to go from a gunrunning state, and one with some of the weakest laws in the country, to a state with one of the toughest gun laws in the country," he said.
But Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the NRA, warned that Virginians were deluding themselves if they think the bill will curb violent crime.
LaPierre warned that the gun-permit system will discriminate against minorities and the poor. "It will work fine if you have money and wealth and connections. But if you're a black man or woman, you're going to be treated like Bonnie and Clyde. You're going to wait years" for a multiple-handgun purchase certificate, he said.
Also Thursday, the assembly passed a bill to ban the sale and other transfers of "street sweepers," a style of shotgun commonly used by drug dealers. An earlier version also banned the Tec-9, a 9mm semiautomatic pistol, but that weapon was deleted from the final bill.
\ WESTERN VIRGINIA VOTES\ On the gun bill\ Yes: Dels. Steven Agee, R-Salem; Clifton Woodrum, D-Roanoke.\ \ No: Dels. Ward Armstrong, D-Martinsville; Tommy Baker, R-Dublin; Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton; Creigh Deeds, D-Warm Springs; Willard Finney, D-Rocky Mount; Thomas Jackson, D-Hillsville; G.C. Jennings, D-Marion; Joseph Johnson, D-Abingdon; Joan Munford, D-Blacksburg; Lacey Putney, I-Bedford; Roscoe Reynolds, D-Martinsville; Victor Thomas, D-Roanoke.\ - Staff