Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 21, 1993 TAG: 9305210186
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MARGARET EDDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
"If we can bring the same kind of activism to bear on the Brady Bill that you brought to Virginia, we're going to win this time," the lobbyist for the national group Handgun Control Inc. yelled above the din of traffic.
Fifty or so demonstrators - including a half-dozen members of Virginians Against Handgun Violence, the object of Parsons' praise - shouted their approval.
Passing cabbies honked a chorus of support.
Any eyes watching from the high-rise NRA building across the street were hidden from view.
So it went as a handful of Virginians who helped galvanize public support this past winter for a state limit on handgun purchases carried their crusade into a new season.
Leaders of Virginians Against Handgun Violence, organized after shootings left two people dead on the grounds of a Norfolk high school, traveled to Washington for what has become a weekly vigil of gun-control enthusiasts outside NRA headquarters.
The trip was a reminder that citizen interest in tighter gun control laws in Virginia did not end with the legislative victory. But the number of Handgun Violence members who showed up for the noontime rally - six - also underscored the challenge of keeping enthusiasm high.
"It's hard unless the memory of the latest shooting is fresh in their minds," acknowledged Alice Mountjoy, a Norfolk civic activist who'll assume the group's presidency next month.
But though the group would have welcomed more company, they also insisted that Thursday's turnout was no true measure of the depth of their support.
Both Parise and spokesmen for The Black-Jewish Dialogue, a Washington group sponsoring the weekly vigils, observed that national polls show overwhelming support for tighter gun control.
"The NRA is a house of cards that's being blown down with the winds of resistance," insisted David Witt of Springfield, who joined the Virginia group after his son was accidentally shot by an acquaintance.
NRA spokesmen did not respond to a request for an interview about the vigils, which have drawn between 50 and 150 people weekly since March 18. But recent financial reports and the model of an impressive new Fairfax headquarters, displayed in the lobby of the NRA building on Rhode Island Avenue, underscore the organization's staying power.
During the 1993 General Assembly session, the NRA spent $521,000 fighting legislation limiting most gun purchases in Virginia to one a month. That was about five times the amount spent by gun-control advocates.
Parise and Mountjoy say the group's legislative priorities this year include: the "Brady Bill," which calls for a national five-day waiting period for handgun purchases; a ban on military-style assault weapons; and a requirement that gun dealers be licensed by the state of Virginia.
by CNB