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.
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Live Aid rock bash entertains
but doesn’t help world hunger
Oregon daily
emerald
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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
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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