ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 9, 1996 TAG: 9607090071
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
CONFISCATED GUNS could be traced via computer under a program President Clinton announced.
President Clinton announced a program Monday to trace guns confiscated from teen-agers back to their original sellers, the latest step in his election-year effort against juvenile crime.
``Leave it to Bill Clinton to wait until four months before the election to embrace the idea,'' said Nelson Warfield, campaign spokesman for Clinton's GOP rival, Bob Dole.
Clinton announced a 17-city program to trace guns by computer so that local police and prosecutors can find the dealers who illegally sold them to children.
The cities in the program are: Atlanta; Baltimore; Birmingham, Ala.; Boston; Bridgeport, Conn.; Cleveland; Inglewood, Calif.; Jersey City, N.J.; Memphis, Tenn.; Milwaukee; New York; Richmond; St. Louis; Salinas, Calif.; San Antonio; Seattle; and Washington.
It is already illegal under federal law and the laws of most states to sell handguns to juveniles, which makes the president's program easier to implement because it does not require the passage of new legislation that could lead to a debate on gun control.
``We cannot permit the United States to go into the 21st century the richest, the most powerful country in the world,'' Clinton said, ``and keep allowing our young people to die before their dreams ever have a chance to take shape.''
The president met in the White House's East Room with law enforcement officials from 17 cities. They will provide information on confiscated guns for a computer databank at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Republicans called Clinton's plan a rehash of a proposal put forth by his own administration in November 1993 and accused Clinton of bringing it up again as a campaign ploy.
Clinton's announcement came two days after Bob Dole advocated charging juveniles as adults for serious crimes and proposed making their criminal records available even after they become adults.
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