THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 10, 1994 TAG: 9408100424
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GUY FRIDDELL
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
The National Rifle Association has the House of Representatives under the gun.
The NRA is lobbying furiously to keep the comprehensive crime bill from reaching the floor of the House for a vote that would send it along to the Senate.
This is curious because the NRA insists that it is not guns that kill people but the people who shoot the guns and, therefore, the way to prevent violence is to remove the people not the guns.
In the NRA's eyes, the guns are immaterial.
The crime bill aims to remove both guns and criminals from the streets, and, moreover, to try to prevent people from using guns in the first place.
The NRA asserts that more arrests and stricter punishment are what we need.
Then why in the name of Elliott Ness is the NRA opposing a bill that would enable localities to hire 100,000 police officers? And also build prisons and assure tougher sentences for criminals?
The NRA is against the bill because it would ban 19 assault weapons dear to the heart of the NRA.
When President Clinton urged the bill's passage he was backed by three tiers of blue-clad police from across the nation. Now who is better able to judge how to reduce crime - the NRA or our police?
The NRA, while professing to fight crime, has sought to block anti-crime bills since 1988.
One of those assault weapons would macerate a deer. There would not be enough to eat or hang on the wall. There wouldn't be enough left to take home.
No wonder police don't want assault weapons floating around for sale.
Some foes of the bill question what would happen when the funds for paying police run out after three to six years.
Have conservatives learned nothing from watching liberals?
In three or so years, go back and say to Congress we are making progress but we need money for three more years, but this time double it.
And, believe me, law enforcement officials deserve every penny we can get. They are the thin blue line between us and barbarism.
Oh, the bill's foes raise other objections. Some $9 billion of the $30 billion package would be devoted to community projects aimed at preventing crime.
Some of these merit skepticism. But sometimes it is more difficult to civilize individuals than it is to catch and cuff them. So you experiment with solutions.
The most mocked of these community programs are urban leagues for midnight basketball.
But, at least, while youths are playing sports, subject to some advice from role models, they are less likely to be in drive-by shootings as marksmen or victims.
Separate versions of the crime bill passed both chambers. A joint committee worked to resolve differences. There is no need to include NRA lobbyists in this democratic process. by CNB