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

DATE: THURSDAY, October 21, 1993                   TAG: 9310210125
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DENVER                                LENGTH: Medium

STATE GUN LAWS RESPOND TO CRIME BY JUVENILE THUGS

"I'd just ask him, if he was shooting at me, why? And I'd ask him, why does a guy need a gun? He ruined a lot of things for me."

Gilmore, 18, was a starting linebacker for Englewood High School. That was before he was hit Friday in the foot by a stray bullet during a fight outside the school that had nothing to do with him.

Police arrested a gang member and charged him with assault and possession of a handgun. Under a new Colorado law, the arrested boy could be sent to a juvenile detention center for two years on the gun charge.

Gilmore didn't play football Friday. The Pirates, with a 6-0 record, lost 22-7.

Following a summer of violence that left four children wounded by stray bullets, Colorado joined a growing number of states responding to juvenile crime with new gun laws aimed at disarming young thugs.

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have stiff anti-gun laws, and a half-dozen more are considering action. President Clinton said this week that he backs a federal proposal making it illegal for minors to possess handguns under most circumstances.

Getting guns away from young people "is definitely the hottest issue in gun policy," said Denise Griffin, a researcher for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Though gun laws aimed at juveniles may not be the solution to broader problems facing young people, the approach is "one area where we have an emerging consensus we haven't seen before," Griffin said.

Even the National Rifle Association, which opposes gun control, joined the fight. It helped draft legislation passed in Colorado during a special legislative session on juvenile violence.

Among a package of bills signed by Gov. Roy Romer last month is a law barring people under age 18 from possessing handguns, except for hunting, instruction and target shooting. Offenders must spend five days in jail upon arrest and up to two years in juvenile detention after conviction.

"The problem that the gun-policy opponents cite is the difficulty to enforce [the laws]," Griffin said. "There are 200 million guns in this country, a third of them handguns. The question becomes how you really control that many guns."

Florida will have a special legislative session on crime beginning Nov. 1 in the wake of last month's arrests of young people in the fatal shootings of foreign tourists. Proposals include banning those under 18 from possessing guns, except for hunting or marksmanship supervised by an adult. Violators would face five days in jail.

"Right now, the laws we have in existence have no meat in them," said Lee Condon, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

"The law for juveniles has no real consequences, and the kids know this. We're looking for something to make it a felony, and provide a penalty for parents who allow their children to have guns."

Bill McIntyre, an NRA spokesman in Washington, blamed the jump in juvenile violence on lack of adult leadership and supervision. And he said there already is a federal law that prohibits minors from purchasing handguns, but it's widely disregarded.