THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 24, 1996 TAG: 9606210018
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 36 lines
The June 11 evening news reported that we once again have a problem with guns in this country. We apparently received a poor grade from some organization because of the number of young people killing each other in this country.
Statements by some analyst indicated that the increase in deaths are caused by more handguns in the hands of youths. The apparent handgun of choice of these killers is a small, easily concealable, high-quality, semiautomatic pistol.
Youths are prohibited from buying or possessing handguns. How are these youths getting the pistols?
The Crime Bill enacted in 1994 was supposed to solve these kinds of problems. During debate over inclusion of the ``assault weapon'' ban in the crime bill, we were told that these were the guns of choice used by youth gangs. This must mean that these youths are intelligent enough to utilize any available tool to accomplish their evil goals.
Another brilliant law in the crime bill was a ban on the manufacture of ammunition magazines holding more than 10 rounds. It does not take a genius to realize that the natural result of a smaller magazine is a smaller handgun.
Once again, the government has manufactured a problem that it will have to fix by enacting more laws. Talk about job security!
Since smaller magazines mean smaller guns, let's require that all new guns have 1,000-round capacity. I bet the youths won't be able to put those under their coats.
When are we going to learn to address the root causes of crime and not the effects of criminals' evil behavior?
JOHN BORMAN
Virginia Beach, June 12, 1996 by CNB