ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 7, 1996 TAG: 9606070080
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
Blockbuster Video ends weapons ban
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Blockbuster Entertainment Group has taken down signs banning guns from its video stores.
The signs were posted as a test in all of the company's approximately 2,800 video stores throughout the nation. But the experiment didn't work out, said Wally Knief, spokesman of the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based entertainment company.
``We tried it and the results from the stores indicated that it could not work well, was not manageable and could not be administered properly,'' Knief said.
Blockbuster began hanging signs at the entrance of its stores around the first of the year, after some states passed laws allowing people to legally carry concealed weapons, Knief said. They were removed last month.
``On that basis, we were going to determine sentiment to see how that would fly in the stores,'' he said.
More than half the states now license their residents to carry concealed weapons. Florida passed its law in 1976. A law that went into effect July 1, 1995 has made it easier for Virginians to obtain a permit for a concealed-weapon.
The signs that came down as of May 1 indicated the company's commitment to safety and security, Knief said.
In addition to the gun prohibition, the signs also notified the reader of ``drug inspections of employees'' and reminded them that the store was monitored by security cameras, Knief said. The company is continuing the those two practices.
There were no problems in stores before or after the signs were posted to Knief's knowledge, he said.
Knief said he has received calls from people both heartened and angered by the concealed weapons policy, but he denied the National Rifle Association influenced the company to remove the signs.
The NRA sent out an alert on its Internet-mail network asking its membership and other gun owners for information on companies banning legally carried guns from its stores, according to the Associated Press.
- Staff and wire reports.
Mortgage rates hit 1-year high
WASHINGTON - Thirty-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 8.30 percent this week, highest in more than a year, according to a national survey released Thursday by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.
They were up from 8.03 percent last week and the highest since the average was 8.37 percent during the week ended April 13, 1995.
On one-year adjustable rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.86 percent, up from 5.76 percent last week.
Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for those refinancing mortgages, averaged 7.80 percent this week, up from 7.54 percent a week earlier.
The rates do not include add-on fees known as points.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Medium: 58 linesby CNB