! 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