Import

THE DEBATE over gun control has turned from should Americans own guns to which guns should Americans own. If the primary purpose for gun ownership isn't to arm a "well-regulated militia," but to provide weapons for sport and individual protection, then it is right to consider what instruments of death are needed for those purposes. Private citizens don't need the assault guns preferred by soldiers in war who must fire indiscriminately at multiple targets.Yet the demand for high-powered and rapid-firing guns has become so great that just the threat of a ban on some imports mushroomed the number of applications to bring them into this country to more than a million; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has approved 600,000 requests.

WASHINGTON - A Senate plan that would allow Americans to import lower-cost prescriptions from abroad got a significant endorsement yesterday from former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David A. Kessler. Safeguards proposed in recent legislation by Sens. Olympia J. Snowe, a Maine Republican, and Byron L. Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, would protect consumers from substandard and counterfeit drugs, Kessler told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. He had criticized earlier proposals as too weak on safety.

Even proponents of online overseas pharmacies tell horror stories of elderly patients receiving ineffective drugs for arthritis or of women becoming pregnant after ordering birth control pills that turned out to be fake. Overseas Internet pharmacies offer prescription drugs at dirt-cheap prices, but medication from questionable sources can be ineffective or downright harmful. It could also be illegal. Patients "could find the cheapest drug made by some bathtub operation located in a country without the same regulations as here or Europe, and they'll get an inferior product," said Andrew Canada, a pharmacist for Global RX, an international online pharmacy based in North Carolina.

WASHINGTON -- Two Japanese automakers have asked the Commerce Department to extend reduced duties they pay on imported parts for their American-made cars.The companies want to expand their factories in the United States without paying higher tariffs on the additional parts they will need to import.Since opening U.S. factories in the 1980s, Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co., like Detroit's Big Three automakers, have held an exemption that lets them pay duties of no more than 2.5 percent on parts they import for assembly.

PRESIDENT CLINTON yearns for fast-track extension of the North American Free Trade Agreement to Central and South America. He wants trade agreements negotiated by the executive branch to be voted up or down, as in the recent past, without amendment by Congress.Like so many others in Washington and on Wall Street, the President exudes faith in free trade. This faith has become so pervasive that doubters often hesitate to voice their reservations, lest they be identified with flat-earthers like Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot.

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration backed off yesterday on a plan to open the door to millions of cheap Russian-made guns.The State Department, citing a "dramatic increase" in the potential flow of firearms into the United States, is recommending denial of requests from U.S. gun dealers to import as many as 7.6 million pistols and rifles from Russia and other republics of the former Soviet Union.The administration had quietly considered granting the permits for the past few months. At the White House summit between President Clinton and President Boris N. Yeltsin last week, Russian officials pressed for selling their surplus military weaponry.

The United States agreed yesterday to call a truce in its bitter eight-year banana dispute with Europe, clearing the way for improved relations with a key ally in the battle to liberalize global trade. Under the deal announced in Brussels, Belgium, the European Union agreed to amend a controversial banana import system opposed by Chiquita Brands International and Dole Food Co. by July 1, and the United States said it would drop stiff sanctions it imposed two years ago on European goods.

Washington -- The United States will dole out more than $16 billion in foreign aid this year. Yet, while American politicians congratulate themselves on their generosity, American protectionism is devastating dozens of Third World countries. Our trade policy seems custom-made to keep the Third World barefoot and pregnant, forever reliant on U.S. handouts.The U.S. import quota on sugar has bushwhacked Caribbean farmers. Between 1981 and 1988, the Department of Agriculture slashed the amount of sugar that Caribbean nations could ship to the U.S. by 74 percent.

A weekly briefing on the economic calendar: Monday The Institute for Supply Management releases its national survey of purchasing managers, which covers such indicators as new orders, production, employment, inventories, delivery times, prices, export orders and import orders. January personal income and spending figures are released. In December, personal income rose 0.2 percent and spending 0.4 percent. Earnings reports: Macrovision Tuesday Auto and truck sales out today measure the monthly sales of all domestically produced vehicles.

The last time we made a big deal about Paul Efantis, he had won what seemed to be an incredible four consecutive races in the Number One Parts Inc. Race War Series in the BFGoodrich Street Tire Class. Now he is 8-0. The last two races of the season will be contested Oct. 18-19 in the Mopar NOPI Race Wars World Finals at California Speedway in Fontana, Calif. Efantis, who runs an import performance shop in Frederick that specializes in Toyota Supras, has every intention of going 10-0. "We know what we've got," he said.