PAGE 6 — WEST CRAVEN HIGHLIGHTS — JANUARY 14. 1988
Different Setting
When the snow falls and blankets eastern North
Carolina it oRen draws attention to things usually
passed by every day. It seems like the snow brings
a different setting — one that catches our eyes, if
not our imaginations. Maybe it just makes us slow
down and take notice of what is around us. These
two pictures seem to illustrate it best.
Baseball Withdrawal
AT ISSUE
Is New Gun Control Legislation Needed?
Sarah Brad) b vkv chair
of Haadgan Coatral. lac.
aad ti ihc wife of Presi*
deal Reagaii's prctt iccre*
tar) Jaaiei Brad), who
wa» wooMlcd duriag ibc
1981 affasoiaallpa al*
lempi b) John Hinkle).
Is new gun conlrol legislalion needed?
Ye.v: fur handguns. I'm not lobbying fur more
"gun conlml legislation." i.e.. laws on hunting
weapons like rifles and shotguns. However.
America does need stmnger laws to keep hund-
suns fnnn falling into the wnmg hands. Every
year more than 20.000 Americans are killed by
easily concealable handguns, and many mure are
wounded or assaulted, like my husband Jim.
Specifically, whal are your views on a na
tional waiting period and background check
for handgun purchases?
I agree with every major law cnforeemenl or
ganization that such a law can help prevent hand
gun violence. John Hinckley walked into a Dallas
pawnshop. Idled out the federal form required by
law. and within minutes walked out with the
handgun he later used to shiHM President Reagan,
my husband and two law enforcement ofticers.
Hinckley lied on the federal form by using a false
address. Had police been given the opportunity to
discover his lie. John Hinckley may well have
been in jail instead of on his way to Washington.
The Hinckley case is just one example of how
a waiting period could have prevented a handgun
tragedy. Last year alone. California's wailing pe
riod caught 1.^1.^ convicted felons trying to buy
handguns. Yet under federal law. it's the buyer’s
word. That just diK’sn't make sc.isc. We need the
mechanism to ensure that those persons pmhih-
ilcd by law from purehasing handguns are. in
deed. screened out.
»
Whal is the outlook for gun control?
Momentum is building for two vital bills: the
"Handgun Violence Prevention Act." calling for
a national waiting period for handgun purchases,
which now has unprecedented Congressional
support, and legislation to outlaw pla.slic hand
guns. Many of our key lobbyists are law enfotve-
nrent ofticers. both chiefs and rank and lilc. But
the tinal outcome is up to the American voters. If
senators qnd representatives hear only from the
NR A. we will lose. I urge the majority of Ameri
cans who suppttrt stmnger handgun laws to let
their elected representatives know how they feel.
Wayiw R. i.aPirrrc, Jr. b
nKUlin dirtetmr for llw
National RIRc Attocta-
ttoo's liHlitulc for Logbla-
tin Aclion.
Is new gun control legislation needed?
The best way to reduce crime is to gel crimi
nals off the streets. "Gun control” doesn't do
that. After nearly 20 years of regulatory statutes
on the acquisition and use of lireanns, crime re
mains a problem.
Re.sirictive gun laws only serve to disarm the
law-abiding—and K2 percent of the criminal!, in a'
study conlirmed that.
Morc* laws would only lake the guns from the
estimated I million people who each year use
lireanns to deter crime.
Specifically, what are your views on a na
tional waiting period and background check
for handgun purchases?
Again, gun laws don't affect criminals. But
they do invite arbitrary denials of gun rights
based on faulty or incomplete police records, and
have proved a costly waste of police time and
budgets, which could raherwise be used to appre
hend violent criminals.
Additionally, noted the U.S. Justice Depart
ment. "Persons with a criminal record are ihe^
ones most likely to obtain false identification
documents to support a new name. The name
check iconducted in a background investigation)
will not reveal any information regarding the pur
chaser's criminal activity."
As a measure against so-called "crimes of
passion." waiting periods have no effect. Said
criminologist Dr. Marvin Wolfgang: "few homi
cides due to shiMitings could be avoided merely if
a tircarm were nut immediately present ... the
offender would select some other weapon to
achieve the same destructive goal."
What is the outlook for gun control?
Congress consistently has reaffirmed its sup
port for law-abiding citizens' right to keep and
bear arms free from infringement by defeating
'“gun control" proptisals and reforming measures
to target criminals, nut honest citizens. And in the
slates, voting in referentlum after referendum to
maintain our firearms freedoms has proved that
the people don't want to control guns, they want
to control criminals. Ill c l9e7.PMEdrtohalSeniwes
liv Bert Randoph Sugar
PM Editorial Services
The TV SCI wa.s still wann. Minnc-
Mila reliever Jeff Reardon had retired
the last St. Louis Cardinal only sec
onds before to preserve the Twins*
World Scries victory, and already I
was suffering withdrawal pangs. No
more baseball for four months! The
only thing I could think of that could
be worse would be if I asked a guy U) Jius'r Tim Raines.
tionu! Anthem on the opening day of
the season and one of the players say
ing. Tivery lime I hear that song I
have a bad game.” And A’s relief
pitcher Jay Howell becoming the hrsl
hometown player in All-Star history
to he tHKKd during the pre-game in-
tn>ductions and booed again 13 in
nings later when he gave up the
game-winning hit to National Lca-
you don't believe me, ask my butler,
Reggie Jackson.”
Fsocieiy*
cash a check for SIO and found it was
someone I already owed to.
What's that, you say.* There are
other sports to turn to during base
ball’s off-season? Sure, there's
hwkey. where you can wauh players
go the entire length of the ice just to
clobber someone with their stick.
Then there’s horse racing, where you
can go watch the windows clean the
pc»ple. Or even boxing, where nK»st
of the time all you see is tap dancing
with gloves on. And then there’s the
counterfeit football season, a half
scaM»n played by guys whose names
arc memorable only if you’re naming
the AIM:yc Chad Team. Nt». there's
only one way to satisfy my sports
’Mix”; Haschall. To believe otherw ise
would be akin to believing that a
myth is a female moth.
And so. during the current off
season lull, instead of bothering with
Uher sp»>ds I’ll review the H>X7 base
ball season in the bascpalhs of my
mind—a seast>n that hud more un
foreseen circumstances than ever
were experienced at the monthly
meetings «»f the Clairvoyant Society.
Some of those magic moments of
’87 that bring seasoning to the off
season like garlic to a .salad include
the lime an Orlando policeman
threatened t» arrest Minnesota TVins
outfielder Kirby Puckett during
spring training because Puckett kept
hilling windshield-breaking blasts
over the oulticld fences. Or Pedro
Guerrero of the IXnlgers. forced to
miss a game after injuring his wrist
trying to save his giant-screen TV set
when an earthquake hit the Los
Angeles area.
Other memories of *87 that cross
.he beaten path of my mind have the
iflsbuf^ Pirates lined up for the Na-
But perhaps my fondest memory
id 1987 was when Don Mattingly,
commenting on his salary, said, "Ev
ery bixly thinks I’ve changed. But I'm
just a boy from the hills of Indiana. If ^
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