THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 22, 1994 TAG: 9408200011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 29 lines
Columnist Guy Friddell writes that the ``crime bill aims to remove both guns and criminals from the streets.'' It may do neither. The ban against ``19 semiautomatic weapons'' will, in actuality, ban more than 170 weapons based solely on their appearance. I find it asinine that a 11-pound, 49-inch, 43-year-old target rifle should be banned.
While I am pleased that Mr. Friddell can use ``macerate'' in a sentence, he should get his facts straight when he writes about firearms. The firearm I assume he was writing about uses a round very similar to the 30-30, which hunters have used for about 100 years.
In order to gain support of organizations like the NRA, a true crime bill should be stripped of capricious and arbitrary anti-gun provisions. Such a bill would fly through both houses of Congress. A bad crime bill is worse than no crime bill.
HERMAN B. FINKELSTEIN
Virginia Beach, Aug. 10, 1994 by CNB