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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 21, 1976)
! State gun control will not stop the use of hand guns By TOM JACKSON Of the Emerald Jim Durham, Republican candidate for State Attorney General says the “major ques tion for voters in the Attorney General s race should be which candidate is best qual ified to administer the largest law office in Oregon.” Durham, who presently serves as Deputy Attorney General, says there “is no doubt that people are con cerned with the misuse of handguns." But he says he feels that gun control is not going to stop the use of handguns, pointing to the fact that (1) there are an estimated 400,000 hand guns in Oregon, and (2) it would cost about $40 million to register these guns. “You have to look at what we re going to accomplish,” says Durham. "I take a prag matic view of it.” Durham says the biggest problem the Legislature has to deal with is corrections. Ac cording to him, “We re doing a rotten job—we’re not re habilitating anybody." He says there are two things that stop a person from committing a crime; the fear of getting caught and the certainty of punishment. Durham says, however, he does not feel that high security prisons are the only way to punish a person. In his opinion more corrections facilities are necessary in Oregon, but Durham says, “that doesn’t mean an expensive, high sec urity prison like the one in Salem.” Durham favors the concept of fixed prison terms, and says that he would abolish the parole system because it leads to “destructive manipu lation,” inflated sentences from judges, and public dis satisfaction with the penal sys tem. Another expression of the dissatisfaction with the penal system, according to Durham, is the present proposal for the reinstatement of the death penalty in Oregon. Durham says that 80 per cent of all homocides are “crimes of anger and passion, and there is no evidence that the death penalty will reduce that.” “I share the concern of the public with the Bowles and Manson-type killer,” says Durham, but adds that death penalty reinstatement would give juries greater responsibil ity to be certain beyond all possible doubt since a guilty verdict would end in death for the defendant. Durham stresses that in anti-trust action, the state “can’t go after everybody.” He says he feels many busines ses are ignorant of the anti trust laws and should be warned to stop violating before prosecution is brought against them. “Most people want to com ply with the law,” he says, and adds that educating busines ses about the law should be a priority. Jim Durham Wilson: Wants limit on public ownership of hand guns V \ OT I Tuck Wilson By TOM WILSON Of the Emerald Lyndon “Tuck” Wilson, a Portland attorney and a former Assistant Secretary of State, says he is running for the At torney General to ' build on the record of excellence the in cumbent has established, and to provide fresh leadership in several areas of special con cern to me. “The Attorney General is, above all, the symbol of lead ership in the field of criminal justice," says Wilson. Wilson says he favors gun control in Oregon, explaining that state and federal figures i confirm “the direct correlation between the increase in the number of pistols and their use in crime.” He states that more than 55 per cent of Oregon’s 124 homoddes in 1974 were committed with handguns, a figure higher than the nation wide figure. Wilson proposes a ban of the sale of “Saturday night specials” in Oregon. He says he would make other hand guns available to persons in volved in law enforcement, sport marksmen and persons protecting a retail store. Ac cording to him these guns would have to be registered, and would only be sold to per sons who are free of criminal record, who can demonstrate a need. Wilson says the proposal cost would be difficult to esti mate. But he says the cost of the ban would be low, as would the cost of policing the sale of Saturday night specials be cause it could be accomp lished in existing routine gun dealer investigations. “My proposal is to limit own ership of guns,” says Wilson. "I am the only candidate who has endorsed this.” Wildon does not favor the proposed return of the death penalty. He says in 1974 the 124 homocides to which the death penalty would apply were a small part of the total number of crimes, pointing to the 10,000 burglaries and 40,000 larcenies also commit ted that year. “I don’t think the death pen alty would have an impact on other crimes,” says Wilson, adding “there is no evidence the death penalty would be a deterrent for crimes of pas sion, which is wnat many homocides are." Another change Wilson plans is in the area of victim assistance. He says he feels the victims of crimes are often neglected “while vast sums are spent on efforts to salvage the defendant." In his opinion a provision to grant the victims’ medical costs and lost wages would increase public confi dence in the judicial system. Wilson says he favors more definite sentencing and con struction of regional correction facilities. However this does not entail abolishing the parole board, which is necessary for “flexibility," according to him. He says he feels that anti trust and consumer protection action should concentrate on activities that affect a large segment of the state. ! ‘Proud to be an Oregonian and an American’ By TOM JACKSON Of the Emerald Bill Jolley is running for the office of Attorney General on the Republican ticket. Jolley, the only non-lawyer in the Attorney General race, says he likes to “tell it like it is and hear it like it is.” Jolley, a commercial refrig eration contractor, says he is proud to be an Oregonian and an American, and that people in this country “are created equal, given equal political rights and given equal oppor tunity." Jolley is opposed to the re gistration of handguns. He says he believes that guns are private property, and that citi zens should be allowed the means to protect their private property. He says he is also wary of the possibility of a gov ernment insurrection and that the control of guns for private citizens would facilitate such a situation. ‘ The criminal mind is the legal problem,"says Jolley, "not the gun itself." In his opin ion the evil mind would use a gun regardless of whether or not it was registered. “We are approaching the issue wrong,” says Jolley. All people "have a mind and can reason," says Jolley, and according to him that educa tion is one way to approach the problem of crime prevention. Jolley says he feels the penal system in Oregon is “a revolving door system,” em phasizing that judges should be more firm with sentences, and that there should be a minimum detention period. Jolley supports the concept of regional penal facilities. He says he believes that first-time offenders “make one mistake and are not really criminals,” and they could be held in minimum security regional facilities. Repeating criminals, says Jolley, “are criminals of their own choosing," and in his opin ion they should be treated more firmly. Education prog rams are included in Jolley’s proposals for the rehabilitation af criminals. He also supports the idea of community in volvement with the rehabilita tion process and citizen input n the penal system. Jolley says he feels that anti-trust action in the state should be more “vigorous,’’ that this form of corruption should be prosecuted more often. / Jolley also had definite views about consumer protec tion in the state. He says the consumers are being "ripped off” and that there is some thing wrong when businesses make huge profits at the ex pense of the taxpayers. Bill Jolley
