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

DATE: TUESDAY, December 7, 1993                   TAG: 9312070150
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

PARENTS URGED NOT TO BUY TOY WEAPONS

Elders testified at a congressional hearing on handgun violence as a public health issue.

Among the other witnesses were actress Pam Dawber, who said the public should boycott companies that sponsor violent TV shows. Several victims of street shootings also spoke out.

Elders said the nation needs to fight gun violence on several levels, in a campaign similar to the one mounted years ago against highway carnage that focused on driver training, safer cars and tougher law enforcement.

"Just as we reduced the number of deadly traffic crashes, we can engage in a similar process with respect to firearms deaths and injuries," she said.

Gun-related violance is an epidemic that is hitting the nation's youth particularly hard, Elders said.

Rep. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat and chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Criminal Justice, said homicide has become the second leading cause of death among Americans ages 15 to 34 and the main cause of death among young blacks. - Associated Press