Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 12, 1993 TAG: 9312120050
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
A 3 1/2-story-high electronic billboard to be erected atop a building at 47th Street and Seventh Avenue, the clock will provide a grim running toll of the number of guns in circulation and the number of people killed by gunfire in the United States.
"Deathclock is an ugly name, but it tells an ugly story," said Robert E. Brennan, the controversial New Jersey financier and thoroughbred-horse breeder who masterminded the concept and provided start-up funds. He hopes to erect similar clocks in Newark, N.J.; Los Angeles; Miami; Washington, D.C.; and possibly Chicago.
"Every 5 1/2 seconds, the clock will click off when a gun is manufactured, and every 14 minutes, it will do the same in the category of gun-related deaths," said Brennan.
The digital clock, to be installed over the next few weeks, will start off showing 210 million guns, the number currently in circulation. The number of deaths will start at zero.
Brennan has had experience with gun-related violence: His brother, Kevin, was killed by an illegal handgun 25 years ago at age 21.
Money for the project comes from the Dehere Foundation, an anti-gun organization founded Aug. 26 by Brennan, who has guaranteed $3 million and pledged all the winnings of his 2-year-old colt, Dehere.
The foundation will direct much of its effort toward young people and plans to provide educational programs to schools.
"I don't think there's a newscast that goes by that we don't see the horrors of guns, or a newspaper in which we're not reading about 10-, 12- or 14-year-old kids who are victims but also perpetrators of violence," Brennan said.
The group also wants to build a grass-roots network of Gun Fighters of America chapters to lobby for gun control and to help those victimized by guns to take legal action.
Brennan said the Deathclock will cost $250,000 to build, and operating expenses will be $20,000 a month.
The figures on guns and gun-related deaths will be based on statistics from the FBI; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, he said.
Among the clock's features: an 800 number people can call to get information about how their legislators vote on gun-control issues.
Not surprisingly, the National Rifle Association takes a dim view of the Deathclock.
"I think if Mr. Brennan was fair to the issue, he would include on that clock the number of people who have defended themselves with firearms, which is about 2 million per year," said Bill McIntyre, an NRA spokesman.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB