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editorial Senate approval of gun bill is a crime What do John Lennon, Marvin Gaye, George Moscone and 45.000 additional people in the years 1979-83 have in common? They were all killed in the United States with bullets shot from handguns. According to FBI crime reports, over 18,000 people were murdered in the United States in 1983. Of those. 44 percent of the murders that involved a weapon were com ftmitted with a handgun. Numerically, that amounts to over 8.000 people who lost their lives to handguns. And this doesn't include the multitude of accidental deaths or people injured by handguns. But. despite the United States’ appalling statistics on handgun murder, the highest of any developed nation, the Senate voted last Tuesday to loosen laws restricting gun ownership. The Senate, in a move that represents the largest approval of changes in federal gun control legislation since the 1968 Gun Control Act was passed, voted 79-15 to lift the ban on the interstate sale of guns and to eradicate surprise federal inspections of gun dealers' sales records. The Senate also voted down a proposal to require a 14-day waiting period for handgun purchases in order to allow police to : check, a buyer s background. The bill could have some damaging effects if it becomes law. Allowing the interstate sale of guns would undermine state gun control laws. For instance, residents of Oregon, California, and Washington, who now must fill out an ap plication and undergo a waiting period, would be able to purchase a firearm in Idaho and Nevada without waiting The lack of a waiting period is particularly detrimental in cases of suicide or passion crimes. Rather than ease gun control laws, the federal govern ment and state governments should tighten controls, par ticularly for handguns. In order to purchase a handgun, peo ple should be required to register their gun, obtain a license, allow police officers to check their records for criminal behavior, and demonstrate that they can use a gun profi ciently. In other words, they should have to meet many of the same requirements needed to drive a car. Requirements such as these would not keep responsible people from obtaining a handgun. It would reduce the number of guns available to people who cannot demonstrate that they are responsible, law-abiding citizens. Criminals will still get guns, but they will generally only be able to ob tain guns of inferior quality at inflated prices. It makes sense, as it does with narcotics, to limit the availability of handguns as much as possible. Those opposed to gun control cry. “Guns don’t kill peo ple, people kill people!” But handg-jns are making it all too easy for people to kill people. With killing as impersonal as pulling a trigger, it's no wonder that handguns are the weapon of choice for America’s killers. Clearly, if the availability of handguns were limited, the murder rate would go down. Handgun enthusiasts also argue that they need han dguns for protection. But in an estimated 90 percent of the cases, burglurs raid houses in which the occupants are not home. Handguns in the home are used more frequently to commit suicide or injure or kill another family member as they ever are in preventing a crime. In addition, senators may not be doing their homework. A 1981 survey conducted by the Department of Justice revealed that 71 percent of Americans were in favor of re quiring permits for handgun purchases. 91 percent were in favor of a waiting period, and 65 percent said that they thought that federal laws covering the sale of handguns should be more strict. - It’s time that the handgun business quits making a killing. ****1^' C*WN.upgo/ Roll 'Em ' *** * M&nfcSw *%XH<i**> ^ ,'Ii 9 vrttfs*- ***»<* l NnX aft.® _^ s' Live Aid rock bash entertains but doesn’t help world hunger Oregon daily emerald The Oregon Daily Emerald is published on Tuesdays and Thursday during the summer session except during exam week and vacations by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co., at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 97403 The Emerald operates independently of the Universi ty with offices on the third floor of the Erb Memorial Union and is a member of the Associated Pr^ss. The Emerald is private property. The unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law. General Staff Advertising Director Susan Thelen Production Manager Russell Steele Classified Advertising Vince Adams Assistant to the Publisher Jean Ownbey Advertising Sales: Tim Clevenger, Michael Gray, Nancy Nielsen, David Wood Production: Vince Adams, Kelly Cornyn, Stormi Dykes. Kathy Gallagher. Kelly Neff, Michele Ross, Peg Solonika, Karen Stallwood, Colleen Tremaine, Hank Trotter. Page 2 I spent Saturday evening like millions of people worldwide did. and I’m not ashamed to ad mit it. I sat in a bar with a cou ple of friends and watched Live Aid on big-screen television, and tolerated M-TV’s Mark Goodman questioning millionaire rock stars about how it felt to sacrifice 10 minutes of their time for the prevention of starvation in Ethiopia. I’m also not embarrassed to admit (unlike many who gave in to the emotion of the event) the reason why I watched. I didn’t tune in to pledge $5 to save the world's children or to view a barrage of rock stars singing “We Are the World” for the grand finale. I watched the pro gram because I wanted to see the much-touted Beatles reu nion. Phil Collins drum with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, and a Tina Turner-Mick lugger duet. I was there for the show itself. I thought everyone was. But when I realized that many people watching really believed that this concert was doing something for world hunger. I became miffed. Hundreds of singers sacrific ing one day (or less) to take part in the world’s biggest rock con cert of all time, and millions of fans donating hard-earned dollars for a souvenir Live Aid T-shirt failed to warm my heart. It reminded me of a day last February when hundreds of fraternity and sorority members promised to skip lunch for a day Editor Managing Editor, News Editor Editorial Page Editor Entertainment Editor Photo Editor Night Editor Associate Editors Administration Higher Education, Community Student Activities Features Julie Shlppen Diana Elliott Michelle Brence Sheila Landry Karen Stallwood Julie Shippen Kirsten Bolin Scott McFetridge Julie Freeman Marty Schwarzbauer Reporters Sean Axmaker, Robert Collias, Allan Lazo, Linda Hahn, Chris Hazen. Photographers Steven Gibbons, Jim Marks, Ross Martin, Hank Trotter News and Editorial >86-5511 Display Advertising and Business 686-3712 Classified Advertising 666-4343 Production 666-4381 Circulation 666-5511 and donate the proceeds to OX FAM America. a world organization that raises money for th« aliminalion of world hunger.I remember Interfrater nity Council President Jay Halverson telling me that more than Just raising money for those poor, emaciated people, fraternity members also were learning what it was like to be hungry. Ha! The fact is. both the fraterni ty sorority members and Live Aid groupies gave up their lun ches and allowances not for the purpose of feeding the world, but to vacuum their consciences of guilt. Solving the world hunger problem, or just the Ethiopian hunger problem, takes a lot more than a one-day telethon —■ even one that raises $70' Reporter’s notebook _______ million, leaf's say every penny of the $70 million somehow did manage to get to F.thiopia. That amount is trivial matched with the millions of starving people that are dying there everyday.. Simplifying issues as com plex as world hunger by kid ding ourselves into believing that a rock concert will make everything peachy-keen does more harm than good. I've heard the argument that ‘‘$70 million is better than nothing." but I'm not so sure that’s true. I think it’s dangerous for peo ple to believe that their small contributions have made life more pleasant for Ethiopians. They haven’t. Stop-gap measures such as telethon-style concerts do not solve problems in Ethiopia or in any other country where people are starv ing by the millions. It's also naive to portray Ethiopia as the only place in the world where people are suffer ing. Let’s not forget war-torn Central American and Middle Eastern countries as well as the homeless right here in America. People need to be aware of the problem ail the time, not just when rock stars are singing poignant tunes. And they have to bo aware that complex- pro- ■* blems never have easy tudutions , . Two elements essential to gtolial change were missing - from Saturday’s. 15-hour Mye Aid concert — sacrifice and - commitment. . • : Singing at a significant world -. event that was an honor for even • the biggies of the music * business is not a sacrifice. Sing ing for only 10-30 minutes at that significant world event is „ not a commitment. If Live Aid . performers really want to make an impact, why not set up a , committee’to.organize the event as an annual affair, or is that too much to ask? It was almost comical when viewers raved about how touc hing it was'for members of. Iznl .Zeppelin to aggrec to reunite-for this event ' no sim ple gesture, they said. But I have yet to see millions of people celebrate the contribu tions of the Peace Corps that for c=, more than 20 years has been dedicated to helping the pbople of impoverished nations. These; people don't send a few dollars and then drive off into the sunset in fancy cars. Members commit themselves to at least two years. And during that time they don't impose their American lifestyles, but work together with the people who have radically different cultural perspectives. More importantly, Peace Corps members don't concen trate merely on areas that are featured on the nightly news, but go to many places throughout the world, offering skills, training and education. If the millions of American Live Aid fans really care about helping Ethiopians, they should write their national legislators and plead for a policy that would establish generous, an nual budget allocations to all the Ethiopias of the world. World hunger demands institu tional change, not stop-gap measures from people who think of helping Ethiopians as a trendy sport. By Diana Elliott Tuesday, July 18. 1885
