THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 6, 1994 TAG: 9408060217
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
Oliver North has been disarmed.
The Republican senatorial candidate - who came to national attention after revelations he engineered an illegal sale of arms to Iran in the 1980s - will no longer be permitted to carry a concealed weapon because he ``is not of good character,'' a Virginia judge has ruled.
Clarke County Circuit Judge James L. Berry, who issued North a concealed-weapons permit in March 1992, denied a request for a new permit Monday.
Berry's decision came to light Friday when North's campaign staff issued a statement charging that the denial is ``politically motivated.''
North has until Aug. 11 to ask the judge for a hearing if he wants to win a change in the decision. It was unclear Friday whether North would seek a hearing.
It was North's involvement in the arms-for-hostages deal during the Reagan administration that Berry cited in denying the permit.
North, who later said he was acting on orders of superiors, lied to Congress about the diversion of money from arms sales to Iran to anti-Communists in Nicaragua. He was subsequently convicted, but the verdict was overturned on appeal after North's lawyers argued that the conviction was based on testimony given to Congress under a grant of immunity.
In his order, Berry said North was competent to carry concealed weapons and ``has previously shown a need'' to have them, and ``there has been no current indication that such need has changed.'' He denied the request, however, citing a state statute that requires the applicant to be of good character.
Berry wrote: ``This court is unable to ignore his convictions for crimes involving moral turpitude since, even though his convictions were later overturned because the government was unable to show that Mr. North's testimony at the joint hearings before the House and Senate Select Committees was not the source of evidence used to convict him, the fact of those admissions remains. The application is therefore denied on the ground that the applicant is not of good character.''
A North campaign official charged that Berry's action was politically motivated.
``In 1992, Judge Berry found Oliver North to be of good character,'' said Mark Merritt, deputy campaign manager. ``The only difference between 1992 and 1994 is that Ollie North is running for the Senate,'' said Merritt, who labeled Berry the ``Marshall Coleman flip-flopper of the legal world.''
Berry, a Democrat, was appointed to the bench in 1989 by then-Gov. Gerald S. Baliles, a fellow Democrat.
``It is politically motivated for a Democratic judge to contradict his own written opinion just because this case happens to involve a Republican Senate candidate,'' Merritt said, charging that the denial violates North's Second Amendment right to bear arms.
Merritt said Berry offered ``no justifiable reason'' for denying the permit. ``If this guy is trying to get Chuck Robb to recommend him to (President) Clinton for a federal judgeship, violating the Second Amendment ain't the way to go.''
Berry, reached at his Winchester home Friday night, denied the charge.
``As a judge, you learn you shouldn't respond to things like that and it wouldn't be appropriate for me to discuss something I have under consideration,'' Berry said, adding: ``But I'm very unpolitical.''
First word of Berry's decision came from within North's campaign in a news release to the media.
North's original permit was granted March 25, 1992, and expired this past March. It was not clear Friday when North filed for a renewal. Berry said he didn't know when the paperwork was submitted and Merritt also was uncertain.
Merritt would not say whether North has carried a concealed weapon during his campaign, although it would have been illegal for him to do so after March 25.
The North campaign has proved to be very security-conscious and is also tight-lipped about what measures are taken to protect the candidate.
While North many not have introduced himself as ``North - Ollie North,'' there is a James Bond quality to North's personal arsenal. It included a Walther PPK, the weapon carried by the mythical British spy.
North's permit allowed him to carry three concealed weapons:
A Smith & Wesson Model 36, five-shot, .38-caliber Chiefs Special.
A Colt Commander. (The exact model is unclear; the permit specifies a ``9mm ACP,'' but the actual models available are either a nine-shot, 9 mm Luger or a seven-shot, .45-caliber ACP.)
A Walther PPK, .380-caliber ACP, seven-shot automatic. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo of Oliver North]
THE GUNS IN QUESTION
Oliver North's concealed weapons permit which expired in March,
allowed him to carry these three guns:
Smith & Wesson Model 36, five-shot, .38-caliber Chiefs Special
Walther PPK, .380-caliber ACP, seven-shot automatic
Colt Commander (exact model unclear)
KEYWORDS: CONCEALED WEAPON PERMIT OLIVER NORTH GUN PERMIT HANDGUN by CNB