Opinion
Page 8 Wednesday, June 3, 1981 The Michigan Daily
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Gun control-a ray o hope?
the importation of Saturday Night Horseshit. The Second Amendment, not be infringed."
By Fred Schill Specials, but not the domestic rarely quoted in its entirety (not by the As any lawyer worth his beans
manufacture and sale of them. Hence, NRA, anyway), says: "A well knows, and as the American Law
Second of a two-part story. John Hinckley was able to obtain such a Division of the Congressional Research
Questions of national dementia aside, gun, manufactured by R. G. Industries -) Service points out, the Supreme Court
there is some reason to hope that from imported parts-you can't import has repeatedly ruled that the Second
Congress will put a silencer on the gun the guns, but good old American Amendment authorizes the collective
lobby-at least this time around. The ingenuity soon figured out that you can right of the militia to keep and bear
National Rifle Association, for all its import the parts and assembly your arms, but not the individual right of
millions spent in campaign con- own. citizens to do so. The Court has so ruled
tributions (read: bribes), may not THE CRITERIA for defining "Satur- ;'in five separate. cases going back to
shove the looser "restrictions" of the day Night Special" would be the same United States v. Cruickshank in
McClure-Volkmer Bill down our throats ones currently used in forbidding their 1875, and these rulings have been the
yet. importation. They are based on a barrel basis for countless others in lower cour-
For one thing, Senator Edward Ken- length of four inches, frame construc- ts.
nedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. Peter Rodino tion, weight, caliber, safety features, BUT HANDGUN control won't work,
(D-NJ) have introduced gun control and miscellaneous equipment. the gun lobby insists. This is demon-
legislation that defies logical op- To argue against this bill defies all strably untrue. In Great Britain, it is
position. Essentially, the Ken- apparent standards of intelligence.. The necessary to have a police certificate to
nedy-Rodino Bill would eliminate the argument most often heard is the old to- owna handgun; out of a population of 50
manufacture and sale of Saturday each-man-his-gun, Second Amendment million, there were 55 handgun mur-
Night Specials, the easily-concealed, misinterpretation. The NRA and its ders in 1979. West Germany requires a
non-sporting handguns that only the adherents would have you believe that regulated Militia, being necessary to potential handgun owner to prove he
NRA tries to justify. the Constitution guarantees the right of the security of a free State, the right of needs a handgun and that he has ex-
The 1968 Gun Control Act prohibits each citizen to bear arms. the people to keep and bear Arms, shall perience and training in its use; out of a
population of 60 million, there were 69
crimes involving murder or robbery
The ichian D ilywith a firearm in 1969.
The Michigan Daily -%2r"ATposetv ue
- Japan requires a prospective buyer
to get permission from the public safety
Vol. XCI, No. 20-S commission and go through a strict
check on his background; out of a
'AME[RICAN1 flRMt~INORITY population of 117 million, there were 41
Ninety Years of Editorial Freedom AdEtIo ialVFrleedIoIm handgun murdersin 1979. Out of a
Edited and managed by students population not quite twice that of
-MANY OF OtR CITIZENS CANNOT Japan, there were 10,728 murders with
at the University of MchganAFFORD B H s. handguns in the United States in 1979.
To say that handgun control would not
- IF THESE CT1ZENS ARE t) HAE E work in the U.S. is to say that our people
OPPRrUM1Y l EXERCISE BEIR are wilder or sicker than those in other
SmO w slilr"IOt4L RliD EK N em civilized nations. Draw your own con-
clusions.
T'S AIFFICULT toEwa unduly inEiGnEnt- ca use of these alarming statistics,
T'S DIFFICULT to wax unduly idignant MMEOF1HE UNMII S1 ESTO POIM E the Kennedy-Rodino Bill would also add
over Michigan Bell's latest request for a HANDGUOS FREE OF CHARGE. 2-10 years to the sentence of anyone
rate increase. No price hike these days is going - F yOQUAUFV SEHD1IISCtWOt TO: convicted of committing a felony with a
to be greeted with wreaths and bouquets, and ,THE U SGOVERNMENT handgun. The additional time would be
Bell's request may not seem all that gluttonous %'9 'TOA RIFLE A0s mandatory, could not be suspended,
when one considers the state of global com- WAsINGTON, D.C. 2o0 and could not be served concurrently
r-ui------sehr--------------------------------------------- with other sentences-and that's just for
munications elsewhere. I PLEASE SENDME MVCON5O1iNALL''GIJARNIED ' the first offense. The second offense
Bell currently seeks a $114 million per year I E H DG. I AMN UNARMED AMERICAN would require an additional 5 years.
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increase which, if enacted, would boost home
telephone costs anywhere from 59 to 78 cents a
month. The request's most visible and con-
troversial clause would raise the price of pay-
phone calls from 20 to 25 cents.
While $114 million is hardly a parsimonious
sum, it may prove necessary in maintaining
Bell's quality of service in the face of galloping
inflation. Though practically everybody has his
or her own horror story to tell regarding
tribulations with Ma Bell, the fact remains that
America is the envy of the world when it comes
to telephone communication.
In many nations phone service is negligible or
nonexistent; in others, service remains far less
efficient than ours at a far greater cost. In
France and West Germany, one waits an
average of six months for installatiion of a
private phone. In Britain and Japan, residential
cost is five times as high as it is here, while in-
competent service remains a national joke in
most countries.
Keep those items in mind the next time you
feel like punching out a pay phone for taking
your quarter-it really is doing the best it can.
ICHECK CAIBIER OF HANDGUN WONT o :
a 220321.38 OAS.40 I105MM'
The bill would also require a 21-day
waiting period between the time a per-
son purchases a handgun and the time
he picks it up; no more getting mad,
running off and buying a gun, and
shooting someone. It also provides time
to check the prospective buyer's
criminal, drug, or mental competency
record.
This is a brialliant and equitable
alternativeato the NRA-backed Mc-
Clure-Volkmer Bill, but it languished
last year and probably will again this
year. You could write your
congressmen (United States Senate,
Washington DC, 20510, or House or
Representatives, 20515) and it might
help. In the end, though, if McClure-
Volkmer fails, it will be probably be for
negative reasons-Pete Rodino heads
the House Judiciary Committee and
mightsucceed in killing it. That's
American politics.
Fred Schill is a Daily staff writer.
His weekly column will appear on
this page beginning next week.