Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 2, 1990 TAG: 9005020485
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
After killing one and wounding four others, the gunman tossed the smoking weapon into a trash can. Outside the mall, he surrendered peacefully to officers.
Georgia Gov. Joe Frank Harris said the incident "makes a very strong statement" for stronger gun laws in his state.
It makes an even stronger statement for a federal law that would set uniform standards on gun buying throughout the country.
Ironically, it appears that Mooreman - a drifter originally from Anniston, Ala. - took the same name as that of the press secretary who was crippled by gunfire intended to kill then-President Ronald Reagan in 1981. Congress has failed so far to pass legislation called the Brady Bill, which would require a seven-day wait before a would-be gun buyer could get a weapon from a licensed dealer.
A 1968 federal law prohibits purchases by convicted felons, drug abusers and those who have been psychiatric patients or adjudged mentally defective. But if a person denies falling into any of those categories, nothing prevents the transaction on the spot.
It's also not always a matter of public record whether a person's been a mental patient. To require that this information be given to authorities, even on a confidential basis, could violate the privacy of individuals and of the doctor-patient relationship. However, a mandated delay of one week would allow a cooling-off period for those who seek to buy guns while in the heat of anger. It might also head off shootings by the deranged, whose moods can shift drastically in a short while.
There have been other killing sprees by lone gunslingers in the past couple of years: at the University of Montreal, at a Stockton, Calif., school, at a printing plant in Louisville, Ky., at a defense contractor's in Silicon Valley, California. The gun lobby's response to mass, random murders is usually that restricting guns will prevent less crime than will laws and courts that are tougher on criminals.
Whatever the merits of that argument, it seems evident that the prospect of punishment isn't much deterrent for somebody who's settling grudges against society. It is legitimate to ask whether a person such as Brady/Mooreman should have been freed from the hospital. Arresting police said he carried documents indicating he'd been diagnosed at some point as having homicidal tendencies. However, psychiatrists at the hospital - where he had been referred by a community mental-health center - decided he was not harmful to himself or others.
A lot of people regret that now. But infallible decisions about mental cases aren't available. Deranged and dangerous people walk the streets everywhere, and some never see the inside of a hospital or clinic.
A Virginia law that went into effect six months ago requires gun dealers to contact State Police to determine whether a prospective purchaser has a criminal record. If police don't respond by the close of the next business day, the sale can proceed. After it was weakened in the General Assembly, the law's tone implied that the whole procedure is a nuisance to be got through as quickly as possible.
Such may be a nuisance to some. James Brady the cripple expressed another view when, testifying from a wheelchair on Capitol Hill last November, he said: "Those members of Congress who oppose a simple seven-day waiting period should try being in my wheels for just one day."
A federally mandated seven-day waiting period might not stop deranged people from buying guns. But it can pose an obstacle, a delay - a nuisance, if you will. Sometimes that can be enough to save lives and prevent injury.
by CNB