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

DATE: FRIDAY, February 24, 1995                   TAG: 9502240075
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RETREATING ON GUN VIOLENCE

WITH ITS usual consistency, the General Assembly - after restoring budget funds to put more police at the front against crime and violence on Virginia streets - has approved a measure that could encourage more crime and violence.

Oh, of course, that's not the purpose of the concealed-weapon legislation. The idea is to ``help'' police by arming the citizenry for ``self-help'' in threatening situations.

But threats can be imagined as well as real. Ask the Louisiana father who mistook his 14-year-old daughter for a burglar and shot her to death last year.

And if anyone believes making it easier to carry concealed guns won't lead to more shoot-outs, more innocent victims getting caught in the cross fire, and more crimes by those whose idea of self-help is to help themselves to other people's property - well, it certainly isn't Virginia's law-enforcement community.

The State Police and other police organizations insistently warned the assembly that its concealed-weapons legislation will mean a proliferation of guns and gun-related violence throughout Virginia, particularly in urban centers. Once again, the crime-fighters' voices were drowned out by the gun lobby and its loyal servants in the legislature.

Running for re-election this year, lawmakers presumably would want law-enforcement endorsements. As their votes on this measure make clear, the backing of the gun lobby, its money and its propaganda machine, is far more desirable.

Of course, don't expect Gov. George "Crime Fighter" Allen to stand - with a veto - by the police who have to go up against these guns on the streets every day.

The legislation sponsored by Sen. Virgil Goode of Rocky Mount essentially forces judges to issue permits to any and all applicants who have not been convicted of felonies or serious misdemeanors, have no history of mental disorders and are not illegal aliens. A drug-dealer's bodyguard? An angry, alienated husband? A corner-tavern tough guy? If you have no convictions on your record, no problem carrying a concealed gun.

The legislation eliminates any requirement for applicants to show a need to carry. As a result, some police groups predict, the number of concealed weapons in Virginia could rise from 8,000 to many tens of thousands.

The measure was largely prompted by the gun lobby's frustration with a few judges in Northern Virginia and Virginia Beach who've been stingy with the permits. One might assume - since the assembly elects the judges - that lawmakers could have a heart-to-heart talk with those few judges and convince them to ease up a bit. But that would be a wrong assumption.

Instead, the legislators have stripped all judges statewide of any say-so in the matter. Like, who are they to judge if the National Rifle Association thinks virtually everyone should be packing a piece?

Interestingly, some lawmakers who voted for the bill have admitted it might be, well, overkill. House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell of Vinton, for instance, says ``we may be using a shotgun for something we could use a fly-swatter to take care of.'' Fly-swatters never stood a chance.

Now, of 22 states with liberal concealed-weapon laws, Virginia's will be one of the most liberal. The assembly won national acclaim just two years ago for its courage in standing up to the gun lobby. When they imposed a one-per-month limit on handgun purchases, lawmakers were praised for sending a strong message against the deadly profusion of gun violence. Their retreat this year is a sad, unseemly thing.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995

by CNB