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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 18, 1993                   TAG: 9301180364
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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FIRST, GUNS; NEXT, THEY'LL BE AFTER WIVES

VIRGINIANS beware!

We are indebted to the headline in the National Rifle Association's Jan. 12 ad in the Roanoke Times & World-News that "If they can limit you one, they can limit you to none."

Using that insightful logic, it is obvious that, since Congress passed a law in 1862 forbidding a man from having more than one wife, the United States government has a secret agenda to forbid a man from having any wives!

If you ladies will stop applauding for a moment, let's get serious.

For years, the NRA has used this same tired argument that permitting any limit was tantamount to losing all of your rights. As the above comparison illustrates, that just is not so. We have legal limits in just about every area of our lives, such as how fast we can drive on the roads, how much alcohol we can have in our blood when driving, how little clothing we can wear in public, etc. The public accepts these limits for its own good and the good of the populace in general.

As even the NRA ad admits, legitimate gun buyers would not be harmed by the proposed law to limit the number of guns purchased per month, or per year for that matter. So why the objection? Gunrunners and drug dealers who are sponsoring the wholesale murders, which use these easily obtainable weapons, and the gun manufacturers who stand to see their gun sales and profits slightly reduced are two groups that would be adversely affected. Could it be that that is why those gun-makers contribute so heavily to the NRA? NORBERT L. WECKSTEIN ROANOKE

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