Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 4, 1994 TAG: 9409060044
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Greg Reynolds never seriously considered buying a semiautomatic gun until a few months ago, when he heard that the Clinton crime bill would ban the manufacture of many such firearms.
Last Monday, four days after the Senate passed the crime bill, Reynolds was at Valley Guns in Roanoke, purchasing a Ruger P-89, a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun with a 15-shot capacity. Under the new legislation, the weapon is categorized as an assault-style firearm and will be banned.
"When you see them taken away from you, you better get it now, or you'll never get one," said Reynolds, who lives in the New Castle area of Craig County and works for Terminix Co. in Roanoke.
A self-described outdoorsman and gun collector, Reynolds said he would probably never shoot the gun. "I'll put it up ... and one day I'll take it down and show it to my son and say, `Look, son, this is what we used to be able to have before the government got involved.'''
President Clinton is expected to sign the crime bill into law this week. Once signed, the bill will ban the manufacture of more than 19 categories of assault weapons for 10 years, though it will not be illegal to possess or sell a gun made before the ban.
During the past week, sales of banned guns were booming and prices were rising at many gun shops in and around the Roanoke Valley. The popular Colt AR-15 assault rifle could be had for between $400 and $700 two or three weeks ago at most gun shops. Last week, the price was about $1,200. Even the inexpensive Chinese-made SKS assault rifle, which usually sells for about $100, was between $150 and $200 at some shops.
Most gun buyers wanted to beat further price increases. Others feared they would never be able to buy the guns again.
In less than 30 minutes Tuesday at Custom Gun Shop Inc. in Christiansburg, one customer bought a Glock semiautomatic pistol. Another put a down payment on an AR-15 assault rifle. And a third customer was buying 30-round ammunition magazines. The crime bill stops the manufacture of clips that hold more than 10 rounds.
A farmer who was browsing at the shop said he already owned a couple of semiautomatic rifles that he used to shoot gophers, and he was thinking of buying more. "There's nothing better for killing rodents," he said.
The customer who bought the Glock would not give his name, but said he was an emergency room physician. He said he already owned one semiautomatic gun and decided to buy more when he heard that the crime bill had passed the Senate. He purchased a Ruger 10-22 semiautomatic rifle last month and picked it up the same day he bought the Glock.
"If you're going to protect yourself and your family, you've got to use the best firepower available," he said.
Echoing a sentiment that was voiced many times by House and Senate Republicans who opposed the weapon ban, the physician said, "All this [crime bill] does is take guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens and put them into the hands of the damn criminals who can get the guns anyway."
Don Harkrader, owner of Custom Gun Shop, said eliminating parole is the answer, not gun control. He said the state's current laws, which require background checks on would-be gun purchasers and limit gun purchases to one a month, are enough. "The bad guys don't buy their guns at a gun shop anyway," he said.
Rick Birnbach, owner and president of Valley Guns, agreed. He predicted that the bill will cause a black market for illegally manufactured guns and ammunition clips.
Pointing to a 30-round ammunition clip, he asked, "How much brains do you think it takes to make this? It's just a folded piece of metal. It's two seconds of technology. I'm sure the criminals are getting out their hydraulic presses."
Bob Terry, a Bedford County gun dealer, said all he could see that Congress is accomplishing with the crime bill is a run on semiautomatic weapons.
At Terry's Country Corner, the small general store he owns in Moneta, he was almost sold out of soon-to-be banned SKS assault rifles. He is afraid to order more expensive guns from distributors because prices have risen so high, he said, that his customers soon may not be able to afford the weapons.
Birnbach said the assault-weapon ban will help his business because he deals in used guns, but, like many gun dealers, he is worried about the bill's effect on sales of new guns.
Birnbach pulled out a Colt handgun designed to hold a seven-shot clip. With a special cartridge, the gun can hold 11 bullets.
Will the gun be banned because cartridge manufacturers make a bigger magazine for it than Colt designed for the gun? Gun dealers don't know.
Most dealers consider themselves woefully uninformed on what the bill will mean to them.
Jon Lester Preu, owner of Brown Bear's Den gun shop in Moneta, said he has received no notification from the federal government about what he needs to do to comply with the law. "We have no concept of what we're faced with," he said.
Birnbach said he couldn't wait for government notification. He paid the Library of Congress $42 for a copy of the 1,000-page crime bill.
He thinks the gun ban is an abridgement of his Second Amendment rights. He plans to raise funds to fight it in the U.S. Supreme Court.
"The Second Amendment has been gutted. It no longer exists," he said.
Harkrader agreed. "When this is tested in court, it ain't going to hold up," he said. "The only thing Congress has the right to do is tax it."
Birnbach said he is also convinced the assault-weapon ban will help Oliver North's campaign for the Senate. "This will give a boost to anybody who stands by the Constitution," he said.
Richard G. Parise of Norfolk was the founding president of Virginians Against Handgun Violence. He now is a board member of Handgun Control Inc., a national gun-control group in Washington, D.C.
He said it's "preposterous" that anyone could think the assault-weapon ban is unconstitutional. "Why shouldn't we be able to regulate firearms? You can't have unfettered freedom of speech. You can't yell `Fire!' in a crowded auditorium, or they'll lock you away.
"These are weapons of hostility, they're not defensive weapons. Certainly, state governments have the right to regulate these extremely dangerous weapons."
In California and Ohio, he noted, state courts have upheld state bans on assault weapons.
Some gun dealers even agree that the assault-weapon ban is necessary.
Joe Kirk, owner of Kirk's Gun Shop in Christiansburg, said he doesn't sell any of the weapons named in the crime bill, so his business won't be affected.
"I just don't care much for them," he said. "They're not as accurate. They just fire more shots. I can't see any sporting reason for them."
Glenn Nester, owner of G&G Guns in Christiansburg, said he didn't deal in assault weapons for similar reasons, but he added, "I'm going hungry because I don't cater to" semiautomatic-weapon buyers.
Susie Fetter, finance chair of Plowshare Peace Center in Roanoke, said that, although she is for gun control, she is skeptical that the weapon ban will reduce violent crime. "It seems to me that it's just a symbolic gesture. It's just a fraction of the weapons. The manufacturers can sell what they have in stock, they just can't sell new weapons."
by CNB