European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 27, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Jules Loh associated presso be of the first to Lake advantage of Florida s now Law making it easy to buy a gun it turned out. Was a distraught investor who killed his Slock broker and then himself when the Market crashed the circumstances made it o killings Pago one news old Cirise they might have a Issod notice As ust two More handgun deaths among a predictable 20.000 that occur in the United slates every year. Instead they added Luck to the perennial debate Over run regulations in America the most heavily armed among Western nations and the most prone to lethal gunplay sometimes As startling As the shootings last summer when frustrated California motorists took to Chi Iriri to oho another in the clogged rec Veraya. Five were killed. In America Down through its Young history Many of its citizens have regarded owning a gun As commonplace As owning a Pitchfork in America alter All a citizen s right in keep and Bear arms is etched in the Constitution. American citizens own More guns about 140 million than private cars the Bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms estimates that at least half of american households Are armed these facts disturb Many citizens which explains Why the debate Over gun control la never Long out of the news Congress in jct has spent More time on the subject than on All other crime related measures combined and has before it now yet another gun control Bill. Survey alter Survey especially Over the last two decades show that Many americans favor stricter gun control Laws. One of the most recent a Gallup poll taken last month found that 60 percent of those interviewed favored stricter Laws and 42 percent favored a ban on handguns altogether but year after year when gun Laws Are made or changed or revoked such findings Don t seem to matter a spokesman Lor the National Rifle association Ted Lattanzio offers an explanation when people learn the facts about restrictive gun Laws says Lattanzio. They discover that they Don t work can t work and won t work because they go after Law abiding citizens criminals Don t obey gun control  the effectiveness of gun control Laws of course is a matter of debate usually bitter and impassioned. What cannot be debated is the vigor of the mra in opposing them. By any measure the National Rifle association is the nation s largest and most influential consumer lobby. This  says Lattanzio. Who is the Era s director of state and local affairs we be had in this division 24 pro Bills As we Call them passed and signed into Law in the various Stales these Are measures reforming and repealing existing Laws and making it More fair and equitable Lor Law abiding citizens to own and use  How Many anti laws7 none not one has passed " one of the pro Laws on the Era list was the one that went into effect last month in Florida. Ii wiped out All local gun Laws about 400 of them and shifted control to the state the slate Law that replaced the local Laws makes it so easy to get a License to carry a concealed weapon that the licensing officer says he will have to put on extra help to handle the applications one of the local Laws it wiped out. In Dade county required a 72-hour Cooling off period alter paying for a gun before picking it up it substituted a 48-hour notice of intention to buy a gun before buying it. The dealer who sold the gun to the Man who kilted the Stock broker said the customer had done this. The Law requires nothing in writing the customer picked up the gun at the store 45 minutes before the shooting under the old gun Law said cmdr. Bill Johnson of the metro Dade police department this tragic situation would not have taken place " a Bill now before Congress would make a seven Day waiting period mandatory nationwide. The Era stoutly opposes it on the Drourr. That it wastes police Energy expense and time on unnecessary harassment of Law abiding citizens who. As its spokesmen insist ate the Only ones who obey gun Laws the Era operates out of an eight Story Marble and Concrete Headquarters building a couple of mites from Capitol Hill a staff of about 320 supervises its various Page 14 the stars and stripes