Gun Control Legislation

WASHINGTON -- Prospects for gun-control legislation gained momentum yesterday as the top two House Republicans expressed support for including gun restrictions in a juvenile crime bill, and the Senate voted to require safety devices on new handguns.With many Americans more focused on gun control since the Colorado school massacre, the backing of House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Dick Armey suggested for the first time that such legislation could win approval, not only in the Senate but also in the House.

For residents of the inner city of Baltimore, daily life has become a nightmare, with the possibility of violent death lurking around every corner. The newest statistics show 1990 has earned the dubious distinction as the most violent year here in decades. On Christmas Eve, the number of slayings in Baltimore hit nearly 300. It is not just criminals, either, who are victims; innocent bystanders, even children, are being gunned down in the streets routinely.For all intents and purposes, the people of the inner city are living in a war zone.

WASHINGTON -- The National Rifle Association, licking its wounds from recent defeats in state legislatures, is coming under fire for the first time from politicians who were formerly found in its camp.With a president in the White House who favors gun control legislation, a new surge in gun control measures on Capitol Hill and in the states, and embarrassed by having to fire one of its top lobbyists, the nation's most powerful gun lobby is losing stature.The NRA is in the process of crafting a strategy to align itself with law enforcement, backing increased funding for the Justice Department, stricter enforcement of existing gun laws and tougher punishments for criminals.

NEARLY 23 years ago, right after the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, one of his competitors for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy, declined to support a drive for gun-control legislation inspired by Kennedy's death. Such matters should not be decided, McCarthy intoned, when emotions were running so high.The comment was music to the ears of the National Rifle Association, fearful that public outrage over the fatal shooting of Kennedy would break its grip on Congress and produce a bill limiting the sale of firearms.

WASHINGTON -- It used to be that the effectiveness of a strong lobby was measured by its ability to work its will behind the scenes, without the general public seeing the footprints. But that certainly doesn't describe the National Rifle Association (NRA) this year.The organization has been on the defensive ever since the Oklahoma City bombing and the consequent spotlight on armed militias, from which the NRA has tried to separate itself in the public mind. Stories about its finances and internal power struggles also have abounded.

Despite a challenge from the governor yesterday and growing public support for major gun control legislation, one man is poised to prevent the Maryland General Assembly from passing such laws this year.Sen. Walter M. Baker, who chairs a committee that has killed many of the governor's gun control measures in the past, predicted defeat for most of this year's proposals once again.He also said he will work to keep anyone from circumventing his committee."Banning guns has nothing to do with crime," said Mr. Baker, referring to Gov. William Donald Schaefer's proposal yesterday to ban the sale of 18 types of semiautomatic pistols.

The president of the Maryland Senate was to introduce legislation today that would prohibit anyone convicted of child abuse, or who has been ordered by a court to stay away from someone, from ever buying or possessing a handgun in Maryland.In addition, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. said two other state senators were to introduce a bill today that would place a tax of at least 50 cents, and in some cases as much as $5, on each round of ammunition sold in Maryland.Unlike his own bill and virtually every other gun control measure introduced in the Senate, Mr. Miller said the ammunition tax bill would not be sent to the Judicial Proceedings Committee, where gun control legislation has often died in recent years under the rule of the panel's conservative chairman, Cecil County Democrat Walter M. Baker.

Gov. Martin O'Malley predicted that Maryland will ban assault weapons during the General Assembly session that began Wednesday. "Their sole purpose is not for sport; it is to kill human beings - as quickly and as many as possible, as effectively as possible," O'Malley said, referring to guns like the semiautomatic Bushmaster rifle used last month in the shooting deaths of 20 Connecticut children. "I believe that we will, in fact, pass legislation that … restores the assault weapons ban," O'Malley said.

Cops and GunsMichael A. Pretl's letter May 28 indicates that Marylanders Against Handgun Abuse's pending comprehensive gun control legislation has widespread support from the police in Maryland. It refers to ''Maryland police organizations'' as supporting MAHA's agenda and is not specific.The Fraternal Order of Police should not be counted among the groups in support of new gun control legislation.In March 1994 the board of directors for the National Fraternal Order of Police, meeting in Las Vegas, passed a resolution directing its national legislative committee to oppose any legislation that would require the licensing or registration of handguns.

NRA PurposeEditor: Raymond Tabak Jr. claims that "The Sun is on a disinformation campaign against the National Rifle Association.'' He says that everything the legislation in Montgomery County calls for in gun safety has been carried on by the NRA for years.Mr. Tabak is correct that gun safety used to be a major purpose of the NRA, but that purpose has been subverted by the present NRA leadership. All the evidence shows that the NRA leadership's main purpose is to make guns more readily available and more easily accessible to anyone.