Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 25, 1994 TAG: 9411300027
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It makes sense. If you had golfers practicing drives, the little white projectiles they shoot could injure others there to enjoy the park.
Well, if it's a good idea to prohibit flying golf balls, isn't it as good an idea to prohibit people from carrying guns into public parks - guns whence come flying bullets that not only may injure but kill?
It's astonishing that guns weren't banned in all public parks of Virginia years ago. It's even more incredible that Roanoke city's proposal to ban them here might actually run into opposition at the state legislature. If a sane and realistic proposal such as this can get the assembly's gun lobby all nervous and exercised, the world is indeed a strange place.
Yet listen to this:
Del. Vic Thomas, D-Roanoke, strongly suggests he might not support a charter amendment for the city so it can prohibit handguns in the parks. Thomas says he knows of no one who has been shot or shot at in Roanoke parks, and a ban might create trouble for law-abiding citizens ``who have no intention of using handguns except for self-defense.'' From attack squirrels and gangsta rabbits?
Tom Evans, a Richmond pro-gun lobbyist, said this city's proposal might end up penalizing an out-of-towner who was unaware of the prohibition and had a handgun in his or her car while visiting a Roanoke park. Like Roanoke has so many police officers with nothing else to do that they can run glove-compartment checks of all vehicles with out-of-town licenses.
Then there's Gov. George Allen, who last year vetoed a similar measure for the city of Richmond, which is now the shoot-'em-up capital of America.
City officials say their proposal is an attempt to prevent people from being injured or killed in the public parks, rather than a response to any specific incidents - though there have been some handgun-related incidents. Most people presumably think that preventing crimes and deaths is a worthwhile endeavor, yet some state lawmakers are apparently against it if it inconveniences gun owners in any way.
Under current state law, guns are banned in state parks and schools. Why shouldn't they also be prohibited in municipal parks, where citizens take their children to playgrounds, walk their dogs, enjoy a ball game or just a little tranquility?
The assembly ought to pass and the governor sign a statewide law prohibiting the carrying of handguns in all city and county parks. At the least, they should recognize the common sense of banning handguns in municipal parks of larger cities like Roanoke, where weapons pose an increasing hazard to residents and to police. To do otherwise is unconscionable.
by CNB