ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 6, 1997 TAG: 9703060084
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The president also has ordered child safety locks installed on handguns carried by federal law enforcers.
Capitalizing on the popular law-and-order issue, President Clinton invoked last month's shooting spree atop the Empire State Building in pushing Wednesday for a ban on foreign visitors buying or carrying firearms.
With uniformed state troopers and Democratic lawmakers assembled in the Oval Office, Clinton also signed an executive order requiring that firearms carried by federal law enforcement officers be equipped with child safety locks.
``Easy access means deadly consequences,'' Clinton said and noted that children and teen-agers are involved in more than 10,000 unintentional shootings each year. In a Boston speech last month, Clinton recommended safety locks on all guns sold in the United States.
Spokesman Mike McCurry dismissed suggestions that the president staged the brief ceremony Wednesday to draw fire away from questions about campaign fund raising swirling around him and the White House. ``That would be impossible,'' McCurry said.
In brief remarks, the president urged Congress to make it illegal for nonimmigrant foreigners to carry or buy firearms and announced new proof-of-residency requirements for legal aliens to buy guns under current law.
The new rules would require a photo identification card and other proof, such as utility bills, that the applicant has been in the country for three months.
Clinton said his initiative was prompted by a Palestinian teacher's attack on New York City tourists last month.
``We were all shocked,'' Clinton said, recounting how the man had been living on a tourist visa in a Florida motel for only three weeks before buying a pistol there. A man from Denmark was killed and six other tourists wounded when the gunman opened fire on the Empire State Building's observation deck, then fatally shot himself.
The president also resubmitted to Congress ``cop-killer bullets'' legislation to prevent future development and manufacture of armor-piercing ammunition. The bill is a leftover from the last Congress, which did not act on it.
The National Rifle Association said it stands by the rights of foreign visitors to carry firearms. Spokesman Chip Walker said the bill would ``essentially announce to criminals a whole category of people they can attack without fear that this person is going to own a gun and protect himself.''
Andrew Molchan, director of the National Association of Federally Licensed Firearms Dealers, said Clinton's plans to keep guns from foreign hands would only ``make it a little more inconvenient but not solve the problem.''
The only foolproof check would be through a national, computer-based identification system, said Molchan, who represents 9,000 dealers.
LENGTH: Medium: 60 linesby CNB