Gun Control

When U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon (R., Pa.) went to the June meeting of the Delaware County Field and Stream Association, he presented the club's officers with a flag commemorating the 3,500-member group's 50th anniversary and spoke briefly about local environmental issues. But it wasn't the flag presentation or Weldon's stand on such issues as acid rain that brought more than 60 club members out to hear him Wednesday at the Field and Stream clubhouse in Middletown Township. It was the opportunity to talk to him about gun control.

The long barrel of a .357 magnum was pointed straight at Montgomery County Police Lt. Timothy Woodward as he stood a mere 20 yards away. Woodward pulled out his own .38-caliber pistol. It was a standoff in a parking lot in Jenkintown, Woodward recalled, in which a 17-year-old male fled from a car that had a kilo of cocaine stashed inside. The youth was involved in a drug deal that went awry when he and two partners realized their customers were undercover police officers. "Drop it!"

IT'S amazing how Mary Shaw (op-ed, Nov. 11) has the gall to show such hypocrisy. In one line she indicates she supports abortion rights, but in the very next, she favors gun control, not to mention restricting religion and other things. You could argue that, unlike a gun, which might kill, abortion always does kill. Many times more children are killed each year by abortion than by all guns, knives, cars, fists, etc. And it would be interesting to see Shaw explain how she can support gun control (supposedly to reduce violence)

Against the advice of New Jersey's top cop, the Assembly passed a bill yesterday that would make it easier for handgun owners to add to their personal arsenals. Hunters, sportsmen and members of the National Rifle Association and the Coalition of New Jersey Sportsmen applauded as the Assembly voted 53-20 for the bill, which changes the law requiring purchasers to get a separate permit for each handgun they buy. "This is a good bill that eliminates the bureaucracy," said the sponsor, Assembly Majority Leader Garabed "Chuck" Haytaian (R., Warren County)

In the wake of the Columbine High School massacre, a lot of words were used to describe what happened in Colorado. Insane. Sobering. Horrifying. Tragic. In the wake of the U.S. Senate's rejection of one simple gun control measure, the same words can be used to describe what happened in Washington. Senate Republicans - including Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum - have cravenly killed a proposal for mandatory background checks on people buying guns at gun shows. The vote along party lines showed that the National Rifle Association's power to influence Congress is greater than the deaths of 14 teen-agers and a teacher.

Please note: actual progress. A step in the right direction made by The Only Government We Have. Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen proposes to raise the federal licensing fee for firearms deal-ers from $66 (just raised by the Brady bill from $10) to $600 on the grounds that we don't really need three times as many firearms dealers in this country as we have McDonald's. The money will be used to check the backgrounds and operations of firearms dealers. For this much, let us be grateful.

Living with Guns A Liberal's Case for the Second Amendment By Craig R. Whitney Public Affairs. 304 pp. $28.99   Were there to be a reasoned debate about gun control in the United States, Craig R. Whitney might make an ideal moderator. A former reporter, editor, and foreign correspondent for the New York Times, he grew up in hunting country in central Massachusetts, rather than in a large urban area infested with handguns and knee-jerk liberals. He has produced a well-researched and nuanced work about the history of the Second Amendment and attitudes toward gun control from Plymouth Rock to the current Supreme Court.

CHICAGO - Former Illinois legislator Robin Kelly captured the Democratic nomination Tuesday in the race to replace disgraced ex-U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., after a truncated campaign season where she got a boost from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's super PAC. The nomination all but assures that she'll sail through the April 9 general election and head to Washington, because the district is overwhelmingly Democratic. The Republican nomination was also being chosen Tuesday night.

IF I'D STAYED in my upper-middle-class suburban neighborhood, I might agree with columnist Jill Porter and those opposed to firearms. If I hadn't experienced someone else's hands on my person, I might say that I never needed to defend myself in this city. Those who cry for gun control were probably never in a position to defend themselves, or someone they love. Ms. Porter should walk in the shoes of those who couldn't fend off the strength of another, where using a gun would be the only means to stay alive.

A dozen lawmakers, including several Philadelphians, are hoping new public attitudes against guns - and the voices of Pennsylvania victims - can help win gun control in a Legislature with a pro-gun history. Reps. Dwight Evans, Andrew Carn, Babette Josephs and Sen. Allyson Schwartz, all Philadelphia Democrats, were among lawmakers yesterday announcing formation of the "Common Sense Firearms Safety Caucus. " They said recent school gun violence in Colorado and Georgia and a new state poll on gun safety provides the timing and the right atmosphere to adopt "sensible, rational" gun control.