Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 27, 1993 TAG: 9309270140
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARGARET EDDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ARLINGTON LENGTH: Long
With debate over a national waiting period for handgun purchases about to begin in earnest, about 500 gun enthusiasts swapped strategies ranging from how to woo American women to how to copy the legal tactics of the 1960s civil-rights movement.
They heard panel discussions on handling what one speaker called "the cesspool of national media bias." They whooped appreciatively when an actor playing a politician in a National Rifle Association television ad grumbled: "Stop giving me the facts, and start giving me headlines."
And they gave a congressional hero, Sen. Robert Smith, R-N.H., a rousing ovation when he paraphrased Mark Train, "The reports of the death of the Second Amendment are greatly exaggerated."
Speaker after speaker parroted Gary Neikirk, a southwest Baltimore newspaper publisher, who admonished: "We're in a war. We're not talking about guns; we're talking about freedom."
Many appeared also to share the sober assessment of John Snyder, public affairs director and chief lobbyist for the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. The assembled groups "face probably the most difficult situation we've ever seen," as Bill Clinton's presidency and mounting national violence spur political support for gun control, he said.
While the once-invulnerable lobby still wins most of its state legislative battles, there has been a marked reversal in the political climate in recent years. Virginia's adoption of a one-a-month handgun purchase law this year was but one of several highly publicized setbacks for pro-gun groups.
Against that backdrop, the agenda of the Gun Rights Policy Conference - an annual event that draws national leaders in the movement - suggested unusual soul-searching among groups not noted for compromise.
Panel discussions included such topics as "The Police: How we lost them, and how do we get them back?" "Media and Women's Firearms Issues: Is the romance over?" and "The Media, Evidence vs. Emotion: How do we make the intellectual argument work?"
Various speakers called for more sophisticated tactics, including stronger support for gun-control alternatives such as tough sentencing laws. Others said there should be a greater effort to make friends in the media and even the American Civil Liberties Union.
And, citing a study by a Florida State University academic suggesting that 2.5 million Americans used guns to ward off criminals last year, numerous speakers urged gun owners to publicize emotional stories of individuals saved by their firearms.
"We want to be as proactive as possible on the crime issue," said Bruce Nelson, a former California law enforcement officer, consultant and holster maker.
However, there was no indication that anyone was backing down on the guts of the gun-lobby message.
"My granddaddy used to tell me there's nothing in the middle of the road but a yellow stripe and a dead possum," said Marian Hammer, a Tallahassee, Fla., sportswoman and first female officer of the National Rifle Association. "The NRA has never run from a fight, and we're not running now."
"The majority of the people here are of the `you-can't-give-an-inch' school," added Peggy Tartaro, executive editor of Women & Guns magazine. "They all know the inch leads to the foot, to the yard, to the mile."
Even the notion of a national law creating gun-free zones around schools was targeted. Stephen Halbrook, a Second Amendment lawyer, praised a recent ruling by a federal appeals court in Texas stating that Congress lacks authority to create such a law.
"It's an absurd law . . . violated every day by millions of Americans unknowingly" as they drive within range of a schoolhouse, he said.
Halbrook urged gun-rights plaintiffs to copy a page from the civil-rights movement, challenging state and national gun laws only in judicial districts likely to be sympathetic. And he predicted that it is "just a matter of time" before an increasingly friendly judiciary confirms the right of law-abiding Americans to unrestricted ownership of guns - no matter how lethal.
Recognizing the increasingly pivotal role of women in American politics, speakers also urged gun groups to give greater voice and prominence to their women members.
"Everyone has begun to understand that in large measure, the outcome of this issue depends on the good opinion of women," Tartaro said. "You have a lot of people scrambling to reach women" on both sides of the gun issue, she said.
Sandra Froman of Arizona, who last year was the top vote-getter among candidates for the NRA's board of directors, noted that almost a dozen women now sit on that 76-member governing body.
While many speakers acknowledged growing congressional momentum for adoption of the Brady bill, which would create a five-day national waiting period for the purchase of handguns, others were optimistic that guerrilla tactics could prevail.
"It's going to be a tough fight," said the NRA's Hammer. "But it's not over till it's over."
by CNB