Gun Ownership

Forty-eight hours after one of the deadliest shooting sprees in American history, fortunes of pro-gun legislation in states across the country have radically reversed, and even the most unapologetic gun rights supporters are seeking to lower their profiles.Highlighting the trend, the National Rifle Association, known for its uncompromising support for the gun, retreated yesterday and announced -- after a sometimes bitter internal debate -- that it would dramatically scale back its annual convention next week in Denver.

WASHINGTON -- While President Clinton was playing host at his conference on youth violence Monday, saying he and his guests were "not here to place blame, but to shoulder responsibility," the uninvited National Rifle Association was holding a news conference of its own several blocks away.Its executive director, Wayne LaPierre, did not mince words about the White House conference and the NRA's exclusion. He called talk about new legislation to curb gun ownership and use "dishonest" and "phony."

SEATTLE -- Just as the school shooting in Colorado last month has spurred Congress to the verge of approving measures like background checks for gun buyers and safety-lock devices for firearms, many state legislatures are passing gun-control laws as well, in some cases taking up measures that had long been considered unlikely to pass.Late last month, the California Assembly passed a bill limiting handgun sales to one per person per month, a measure that had languished in past years.Other measures restricting gun ownership are under way in Sacramento, with promises that Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat inaugurated in January, will sign them.

DENVER -- As each new high-profile shooting roils the national debate over gun ownership rights, advocates for greater gun control are winning a measure of support from an unlikely source: Republican governors.After several shootings in recent years, including the mass shooting in Littleton, Colo., in April, almost a third of the nation's 31 Republican governors have taken positions to strengthen gun control in their states.Most of these governors, including Bill Owens of Colorado and Bob Taft of Ohio, were strongly endorsed in their last campaign by the National Rifle Association, which generally favors Republicans over Democrats and stronger enforcement of existing gun laws rather than new ones.

WASHINGTON -- Only hours after the latest schoolhouse massacre in Colorado, President Clinton, the man in search of a legacy to lift his scandal-scarred presidency, went on television to let the American people see him feel their pain.Haltingly, about the best he had to offer by way of addressing the tragedy was to say Americans have to reach out and tell their children "to express their anger with words and not actions."He declined to say much more then because, he said in the somber tones he always emits on such occasions, he did not want to intrude on the grief of the victimized families.

NAGANO, Japan -- Would the biathlon competitors please check their weapons at the door?That about sums up the plight of the world's greatest cross country skiers and target shooters at the Winter Olympics. They have come to a land of tight gun control laws, and they have been temporarily disarmed.Their .22-caliber rifles are headed for a double lockup. Their ammunition has been cataloged right down to the last bullet.And if they want to practice -- or compete -- they've got to undergo an eye scan to retrieve their guns.

When the U.S. Supreme Court declared a portion of the Brady Bill unconstitutional under the 10th Amendment last year, Justice Clarence Thomas concurred, but questioned whether the federal handgun law might also run afoul of the Second Amendment, a question the court had not been asked to decide."

BEIJING -- When Yao Rulai goes out on business, he dons his thick gold bracelet, pockets a pack of imported cigarettes and clips on his mobile phone. And whenever he fears that his business dealings might bring him in contact with the wrong sort of people, he buckles on his latest accessory: a snub-nosed handgun.Although owning a gun is all but banned in China, Mr. Yao has joined the millions of Chinese who have been ignoring the law and buying firearms. Some, like Mr. Yao, are otherwise law-abiding citizens who own guns for self-protection, but most guns are sold to criminals, helping to fuel a dramatic increase in armed robberies and shootings.

BETTER NOT go to Britain to preach the gospel of gun ownership, armed self-protection and the right to bear arms. The danger of being run over by anti-gun demonstrators is too great.The government of Prime Minister John Major intends to outlaw private ownership of handguns except .22 caliber target pistols locked up in gun clubs. Despite token objections from a few pro-gun Conservatives, the opposition comes from the Labor Party and victims' kin demanding that .22 target pistols be banned, too, Olympic competition be damned.

ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS brings with him a tenacity gained in the Maryland House of Delegates that places him ahead of the Democratic field in the race to succeed Kweisi Mfume in Congress. A shrewd negotiator, someone able to compromise, is needed to make sure the 7th District isn't shortchanged. But in a deficit-reduction environment in which help for America's big cities won't come easily, the 7th's next representative must also be outspoken, willing to battle for constituents even when it appears the odds can't be overcome.

Ten years ago this spring, two teenagers in Colorado gunned down fellow students and teachers in a killing spree that left 15 dead, 24 injured, and a nation horrified that such carnage could unfold at an American high school. In the decade since, there have been a million gun casualties in the United States. After the Columbine tragedy, I issued a report, "A Farewell to Arms," calling for the country finally to address gun violence head on. I recommended a number of measures: closing the gun show loophole, harnessing new technologies to make guns safer, allowing law enforcement to use body wires to catch straw purchasers, to name a few. I further proposed that while hunting and other recreational uses of firearms should remain unfettered, our long-term goal should be an end to unrestricted handgun ownership.

Gun enthusiasts feel a need to keep arguing for their right to bear as many firearms as possible when, as noted in this column recently, the battle is over, with the all-guns-at-all-costs crowd victorious. Their achievement is an estimated 280 million firearms in a nation of about 307 million people, a stunning ratio that guarantees continued gun violence well beyond the bloody spring we're having this year. That connection is what seems to set the enthusiasts off - that the all-guns-at-all-costs lobby is somehow responsible for all the American bloodshed.

A majority of the U.S. Supreme Court is more in sync with the opinions of ordinary Americans on gun ownership than one might think. Nearly three out of five Americans said recently that they would oppose a law that banned the sale of handguns like the Washington, D.C., legislation struck down by the court yesterday. 59% OPPOSE A BAN ON HANDGUN SALES But most Americans say that in general, it is more important to control gun ownership than to protect the rights of gun owners, a recent Pew Center for People and the Press survey shows.

You have no right to read this. The First Amendment gives me the right to write it but doesn't necessarily give you the right to read it. Or so I was once told by an attorney. While the right to free speech certainly implies a corresponding right to hear what is being spoken, he said, the First Amendment doesn't explicitly grant such a right. So theoretically, it could be argued that no such right exists. The key word being "theoretically." As a practical matter, the freedom to read whatever we choose is such an intrinsic part of our national character as to make legal theory superfluous.

A compilation of comments from media and others overseas in reaction to the U.S. college shooting: From the Melbourne, Australia, Herald Sun's commentary section: "Sadly, Australians are no strangers to the shock being felt in America today. It echoes the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, in which Martin Bryant shot dead 35 people. After that tragedy, newly elected Prime Minister John Howard courageously took on the local gun lobby to introduce tough new gun laws. Yesterday, Mr. Howard reaffirmed his determination to discourage an American-style gun culture arising here.

ATLANTA -- Last Tuesday, a man followed a woman into a downtown Atlanta hotel - in the same complex as CNN's headquarters - and shot her in the face and upper body, leaving her fatally wounded. He, in turn, was shot by a security guard and remained hospitalized late last week. The victim, Clara Riddles, worked at the hotel, but the rage that radiated from her assailant, Arthur Mann, was apparently personal. Family members say the two had been dating, but Ms. Riddles had recently broken it off. What propelled the shooting into national headlines was that it happened in the same building occupied by hundreds of CNN staffers, and it was also near a major sports venue where college basketball's Final Four tournament had ended the night before.

When former Maryland basketball player Lonny Baxter was arrested near the White House and charged with carrying an unlicensed handgun yesterday morning, the incident was news locally but didn't get much play nationally. Baxter isn't a high-profile player. That's part of it. But there's also the fact that his arrest was only the latest in a numbing string of incidents involving athletes and guns. Just a week ago in Ohio, police say they found four loaded guns in Maurice Clarett's truck after a high-speed chase that ended when they pepper-sprayed the former Ohio State football star.

Constitution allows limits to gun rights Cal Thomas' column emphasizing the historical background of gun rights as an individual right seems to forget that the Second Amendment grants a right to bear arms to a "well-regulated militia" ("Individual gun right grounded in history," Opinion Commentary, May 22). Most legal scholars know this phrase gives state and federal governments the right to place reasonable restrictions on gun ownership to ensure the militia is "well-regulated." Criminals and others for whom gun ownership is dangerous thus are not generally allowed access to firearms.

Constitution protects rights of gun owners Jules Witcover asserts that U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft changed the Justice Department's interpretation of the Second Amendment based solely on his "personal views" ("Ashcroft's gun views now policy," Opinion Commentary, May 10). In fact, this reversal of policy occurred in light of overwhelming historical evidence documented over the last two decades that the Second Amendment was intended to protect the firearm rights of all law-abiding citizens.

WASHINGTON -- More than a year ago, when former Sen. John Ashcroft testified at his confirmation hearings to be attorney general, he bent over backward to assure the Senate Judiciary Committee that if he got the job he would put his personal views on such issues as abortion and gun rights behind him and just carry out the laws on the books. As Mr. Ashcroft put it then, he recognized he would be moving from the "enactment-oriented role" of a legislator to a "law-oriented role" as head of the Justice Department and the nation's chief law-enforcement officer.