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

DATE: SUNDAY, May 29, 1994                   TAG: 9405290049
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: JUNEAU, ALASKA                                LENGTH: Short

CONCEALED HANDGUNS ARE NOW OK IN ALASKA

Gov. Walter Hickel signed a bill allowing Alaskans to carry concealed handguns, saying he weighed the concerns of police with those of citizens who want to protect themselves from criminals.

"Those that impressed me the most were the women who called and said they worked late and had to cross dark parking lots, and why couldn't they carry a concealed gun?" Hickel said in a telephone interview from Fairbanks, where he signed the bill Friday at a hunters' club.

"It would equal the odds, John Wayne fashion," said Lou Maloney, a Fairbanks motorcycle shop manager who supported the bill. "Nobody says you have to kill the guy dead, but you shoot the guy and stand on his hands until the cops get there." - Associated Press

by CNB