A GUN LAW EVEN

THE NRA CAN LOVE

Scoper

The White House has made tentative plans for President Clinton to visit Littleton, Colorado on April 20, the one-year anniversary of the Columbine high school massacre. He'll use the occasion not to help the town heal, but to imply that that tragedy and others like it could have been avoided, if only his administration's gun control initiatives been in place. I'll probably end up watching coverage of the event, while trying to stay calm. (Don't worry, I don't own a gun.)

Meantime, the State of Maryland, under pressure from Governor Parris Glendening, will soon start requiring built-in trigger locks on all new guns sold. Now I wonder, if someone is killed by a criminal because he couldn't unlock his gun in time, can Maryland's governor or its legislature be charged with accessory to murder? Or be sued for wrongful death in a civil action? What do you want to bet there'd be a lawyer eager to take such a case?

There is no way to do justice to either side of the gun debate in a short essay, so I won't try. But if you're one of those who favors getting a handle on the problem of gun violence without abridging the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens, you'll be pleased to learn what they're doing about it in Richmond, Virginia.

Richmond, a medium sized city, had an alarming 140 murders three years ago. That murder rate has been cut 65 percent, I'm convinced because of a program called Project Exile. Trigger locks? No. Gun confiscation or licensing? Not at all. Project Exile simply enforces existing gun laws, similar to the 3 dozen or so the Columbine killers violated before they ever fired a shot.

One of those laws provides a minimum 10 years in prison for possession of a firearm by a person who's a convicted felon, under indictment for a felony, or subject to a restraining order. If the gun is used in a drug-trafficking crime, that's a 5-year minimum, on top of any prison time for the drug offense itself. The penalties are harsher still for a sawed-off shotgun, machine gun or silencer.

President Clinton didn't have to call for these laws: they've been on the books for years. The difference is, Richmond actually enforces them and sends people up the river. And since a big part of any city's violent crime is drug-related, is it any wonder that Richmond has taken such a bite out of its murder rate?

It's safer even for the cops. Drug dealers know it'll be very bad for them if they're caught with a gun, so many just don't carry one anymore. All the "background checks" in the world would not have done that. They don't get their guns legally to begin with.

Meantime, responsible adults who keep firearms for hunting, sport shooting or self-defense are unaffected. They're not the problem. They never were. Richmond understands this, and in less than two years their murder rate has been cut by more than half.

So why doesn't everyone do what Richmond is doing? The good news is, other cities may be soon. Miami, Philadelphia, Rochester, Oakland, Baltimore, Indianapolis and Chicago are all in the process of starting up similar projects. We have the solution! At least a major part of the solution. What it takes is coordination between federal, state and local authorities.

What it doesn't take is more self-serving, grandstanding political speeches. I don't know what Mr. Clinton will say in Colorado, but I'll bet dollars to doughnuts he'll call for something that will trample still more on the freedoms of those who have hurt no one. And he'll use the blood of Columbine, and showcase the pain of the survivors to justify it.

(Scoper does not belong to the NRA, but does enjoy Charlton Heston movies.)