
DATE: Tuesday, October 7, 1997              TAG: 9710070284

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NAOMI AOKI, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  208 lines

WEAPONS LAW HASN'T TRIGGERED VIOLENCE EXPERTS SAY THE DEBATE HAS CHANGED: NO LONGER IS THE LAW NEUTRAL OR BAD, NOW IT'S NEUTRAL OR GOOD.

Russell Dixon rarely leaves his Suffolk home without a .380-caliber Smith and Wesson semiautomatic tucked securely into his holster.

But Dixon, 53, who's been licensed to carry a concealed handgun for more than two years, has never drawn his weapon on another human being. He hopes he will never have to.

``I'm an above-the-knee amputee,'' said Dixon, a Vietnam veteran and retired contractor who lost his right leg to cancer. ``I cannot outrun somebody, I cannot fight somebody, so I personally felt I needed a persuader.''

When a law went into effect in July 1995 making it easier for most Virginians to get a concealed-weapon permit, Dixon and thousands of others rushed to apply.

At the same time, critics predicted a dramatic increase in the number of armed people and a wave of gun violence.

Neither happened.

After the law changed, there was an initial crush of applicants, but that has subsided. Now, slightly more than 1 percent of adults in Virginia and South Hampton Roads have permits to carry concealed guns, a number that has not changed dramatically since 1981.

As of March, 7,899 people in Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake had permits, about 12 out of every 1,000 adults, according to an analysis of state police records by The Virginian-Pilot. That compares with 4,241 in 1981, about 9 out of 1,000 adults.

And as for an increase in gun violence, permit-holders say they rarely draw their weapons. Only 40 permits have been revoked statewide, and experts say few have been revoked for gun violations. Permit-holders can lose their license to carry concealed weapons if they are convicted of a crime, gun-related or not.

Local police, prosecutors and activists on both sides of the gun-control issue can recall only two instances in which permit-holders in Virginia committed a crime with a gun:

Last winter, less than two months after getting a concealed-weapon permit, Robert Lee Asbury, 60, went to his estranged wife's townhouse in Blacksburg. He shot and killed his wife and her friend before killing himself. A permit is not required to carry a concealed weapon inside a private home.

About six months later, in August, a federal prosecutor was charged in Richmond with firing a gun in public. According to news reports, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McBride, 37, parked his car near his Tobacco Row apartment and fired at a telephone pole. He did not say why he fired. The case is pending, according to court records.

Law enforcement authorities and experts can't remember a single case of self-defense or an accidental shooting involving someone with a concealed-weapon permit.

``The debate has changed from whether concealed-weapon legislation has a bad or neutral effect to whether it has a neutral or good effect,'' said Gary Kleck, a Florida State University professor who has researched gun-related issues for 20 years.

In the best-case scenario, laid out by a University of Chicago study released this year, concealed-weapon legislation helps decrease murders, robberies and assaults. At the very least, experts say, the law has had no visible effects.

Still, gun control advocates remain concerned that the law puts more guns into potentially violent hands - and situations.

``When you license people to carry concealed weapons, you're asking them to make split-second decisions about when to fire or not to fire,'' said Robin Terry, spokeswoman for Handgun Control Inc., based in Washington. ``Previously, we've left that up to police, who've had extensive training. Now we're leaving that up to the average citizen with little to no training.''

Before July 1, 1995, applicants had to appear before a judge to request a permit. Judges could deny requests if the applicant could not demonstrate a need to carry a gun. Critics complained that the law was unevenly applied.

Under the new law, virtually any Virginian 21 or over without a criminal record or history of mental illness is entitled to a concealed-weapon permit. About 30 states have similar laws.

Dixon is one of 8,550 South Hampton Roads residents who have gotten new permits or renewed their old ones since the law took effect in July 1995.

Since the initial rush, demand has slowed significantly.

In August 1995, South Hampton Roads courts issued 783 permits. During the same month a year later, they issued 187 permits.

An informal survey of more than 30 local permit-holders found only three who had ever drawn their weapons in self-defense. All of the incidents occurred before the law changed in 1995. One incident happened out of state and in a home, where a permit is not required.

None said they had fired their guns in self-defense or anger.

As a rule, they get training, practice their skills and stay on top of changes in concealed-carry laws, experts say.

On a recent Saturday night at Bob's Gun and Tackle Shop in downtown Norfolk, four women and 13 men gathered in a small room for a firearms safety class. All but one planned to apply for a permit. Some had grown up hunting, others had military training and a few would shoot a gun for the first time that night.

One woman, a school-bus driver working toward her bachelor's degree in elementary education, was there with her husband. A friend of theirs had recently been shot and killed, she said. She didn't feel safe going out anymore, she said. She has been practicing at the target range.

A contractor, who has been hunting for years, said he wanted a permit because his work takes him into rough neighborhoods. A Navy man figured he'd get the permit just because he could, he said.

A couple from Ocean View wanted to be able to carry a gun as a precaution. Better safe than sorry, they said. Fear of crime had pushed another couple to apply for permits, they said. The wife shot a gun for the first time that night.

Another woman said her husband encouraged her to get a permit. They have a house in a rural area and her husband gets nervous when she is there alone, she said. She said she hadn't decided if she would actually carry her gun.

The law filters out criminals and the mentally ill, Kleck said. Then red tape filters out people who don't really want the permit or who are willing to bend the law and carry without a permit, he said.

In fact, Kleck said, most people who carry guns do so illegally.

In a 1993 survey, about 9 percent of Americans said they carry concealed handguns. By comparison, about 1 percent of adults are licensed to carry in Virginia.

The people who get permits ``are unusually law-abiding, the kind of people who pay their bills on time, cross their T's and dot their I's,'' Kleck said.

Local Circuit Court staffers couldn't remember any revocations in South Hampton Roads over the past year. Two possible revocations are pending in Norfolk - one for soliciting a prostitute and another for an assault not involving a gun.

In Florida, where a law similar to Virginia's was enacted 10 years ago, experts say, tragedies like the murder-suicide in Blacksburg are just as rare as in Virginia.

Between the time the Florida law took effect in 1987 and Oct. 31, 1996, the state issued permits to about 240,000 people and revoked 778. Only 72 of those were revoked for gun-related crimes.

``I only wish the entire population had that low a rate of committing gun crimes,'' Kleck said.

Kleck said he knows of only one case nationally in which a permit-holder committed a violent crime with a gun in a public place.

In July 1989, Joseph Besaraba boarded a city bus in Hollywood, Fla., drew his 9 mm semiautomatic pistol and killed two people. Then Besaraba commandeered a getaway car by shooting the car's owner in the back and legs.

He was arrested three days later in Nebraska. Police found a valid Florida concealed-weapon permit in his pocket. Besaraba was issued a permit even though he listed a church soup kitchen for the homeless as a mailing address.

``I can't say there's nothing else out there,'' Kleck said. ``But that's the only one I know of.''

Kleck said he does not count crimes that happen in homes.

Even critics of Virginia's concealed-weapon law say tragedies like the murder-suicide in Blacksburg and the shooting spree in Florida are unusual.

But opponents still would like to see a more-restrictive law. They say the law puts more guns on the street and in potentially explosive situations, and that that inevitably means more violence.

``What are we going to do, wait for someone to misuse it before we put tougher laws on the books?'' said Terry of Handgun Control. ``It's very unfortunate to have to see a dead body before you admit something is dangerous.''

Alice Mountjoy, president of Virginians Against Handgun Violence, would like a return to the old law.

``There is a need for concealed weapons. For people who carry large sums of money or people whose lives have been threatened, it's legit,'' Mountjoy said. ``But when anyone can get a concealed-weapon permit, you have young people who think they are invincible, courting danger.''

Mountjoy also worries that people can get permits without taking firearms safety training. The law does not require training but leaves it to the individual judge's discretion. Local judges require proof of competency - generally military safety or a gun safety course - before issuing permits.

Police officers get extensive and ongoing training, Mountjoy said, and even then, officers are killed in the line of duty.

``If you are carrying a concealed weapon, I know it's for your own security, but you are putting other lives in danger if you don't know what you're doing,'' Mountjoy said.

Supporters of the law disagree, saying criminals are the ones endangering lives, not permit-holders. They say permit-holders help deter crime.

``An armed citizen acts as a deterrent to aggression,'' said Tom, a Norfolk resident who works at a local high school and asked that his last name not be used. ``It's one more thing for a criminal to consider.''

Tom said one reason he got his permit 2 1/2 years ago was to increase the number of people licensed to carry weapons. The more people who have permits, he said, the higher the stakes are for criminals.

A recent study seems to support that theory.

``We find that allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons deters violent crimes and it appears to produce no increase in accidental deaths,'' wrote John R. Lott Jr. and David B. Mustard, authors of the University of Chicago study published this year.

They estimate that if all states had laws similar to Virginia's in 1992, about 1,570 murders, 4,177 rapes and more than 60,000 aggravated assaults would have been avoided yearly.

The study has generated controversy, but it apparently is the most comprehensive of its kind that has been conducted. Kleck defends the study but questions some of the findings.

Most states that have liberal concealed-weapon laws are similar to Virginia, he said. Only about 1 percent or 2 percent of the population have permits, Kleck said. Yet the study shows a 20 percent drop in some sorts of crimes, he said.

``That doesn't make sense,'' Kleck said. ``Permit-holders don't commit violent acts, but whether there are benefits to the law, it's harder to say.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

JOHN H. SHEALLY II/The Virginian-Pilot

Experts say most permit-holders, such as Russell Dixon, are

law-abiding citizens who rarely draw their guns.

Graphics

A LICENSE TO CARRY

Map

The Virginian-Pilot

[For complete graphics, please see microfilm] KEYWORDS: HANDGUNS LAWS CONCEALED WEAPONS

STATISTICS