
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 15, 1994                    TAG: 9406150008 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A16    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: Short 
DATELINE: 940615                                 LENGTH:

WAIT FOR THE MESSIANIC AGE?

{LEAD} Everybody will agree with Doug Stewart's view (``Morality, not gun control, is the key,'' letter, May 31) that a change in morality is essential before we can expect improvement in the enormous crime rate, but can we afford to wait that long?

In the meantime, while waiting for the Messianic Age, we can do something about the ready availability of highly destructive weapons. When was the last time you heard of a drive-by clubbing or stabbing, an innocent bystander's death from a stray baseball bat or a knife, or of a teenager killed by playing Russian roulette with a knife, a baseball bat or a broken bottle?

{REST} Consider what Lorena Bobbitt would have done if she had had a gun!

As a victim of a severe beating, which left me with a number of permanent disabilities, I am still grateful that the vicious mugger, who attacked me from behind, did not have a gun.

JOSEPH SCHECHNER

Norfolk, June 3, 1994

by CNB