Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger
& Co. already had indicated they voluntarily
would equip their handguns with
the devices.
Feldman said that the locks should
be accompanied by safe storage and
firearms training.
“Please do not be fooled into believing
that any single safety device by
itself is the answer,†said Feldman in
introducing Clinton.
Clinton said that “this Administration
and the gun industry from time to
time have stood on different sides of
various issues, the Brady Law, assault
weapons ban, and there may be other
disagreements in the future, but today
we stand together and stand with the
law enforcement community to do what
we all know is right for our children.â€
Following the Feldman-Clinton
White House ceremony on October 9,
Jim Pasco, a former BATF official now
representing the national Fraternal Order
of Police, said that while the handgun
manufacturers’ commitment to include
gun locking devices with their products
does not deal with the millions of handguns
already in circulation, “the fact
that they’re being distributed with new
weapons will call people’s attention to
the fact that all their weapons need to
be kept securely.â€
Sarah Brady of Handgun Control,
Inc. called on the firearms industry
to develop personalized guns, which
would limit use of a firearm to its owner
through the use of a radio transmitter
or a microchip implanted in a ring or
bracelet.
On Wall Street, the stock of Saf-T-Lok
soared 585 percent as traders bet that
the Tequesta, Florida company could be
a prime provider of gun locks, reported
USA TODAY. This month, it reportedly
is launching a new model for semiautomatic
handguns.
USA TODAY also stated “gun makers
may also look to Master Lock, which
sells a trigger lock for considerably less
than Saf-T-Lok’s devices. Smith & Wesson
will buy 350,000 Master Lock locks
this year.â€
The nation’s murder rate is lower
now than at any point since the late
1960s, and other serious crime also is
continuing to decline, the FBI reported
early last month.
For the fifth consecutive year, violent
crime and property crime have dropped
nationwide, including in most large cities,
and in particular for murder. That offense
declined nine percent last year, with
19,645 people slain. The murder rate,
now 7.4 incidences for every 100,000
people, is 17 percent lower than in 1992.
Overall, violent crime dropped six
percent last year, according to the final
version of an FBI report. Rape declined
by two percent, robbery by seven
percent and aggravated assault by six
percent.
Cease Fire, Inc., a national organization
with the hots for gun bans, is
initiating a nationwide public relations
campaign to try to convince Americans
that handguns in the home, for any
purpose whatsoever, are not suitable for
law-abiding citizens. The outfit is pushing
its anti-gun media campaign now
in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Austin,
Texas, Boston, Massachusetts, Cleveland,
Ohio, Miami, Florida, Portland,
Oregon and Salt Lake City, Utah.
At the United Nations headquarters
in New York, Canadian Foreign Affairs
Minister Lloyd Axworthy called for more
international gun control efforts. He
told the General Assembly that small
arms are “true weapons of mass terror…(
whose) proliferation undermines
the security and development efforts of
Wilson in late September vetoed a
legislative measure which would have
banned outright inexpensive handguns.
The bill, sponsored by State Rep.
Richard Polanco, would have required
that all handguns, prior to manufacture or
sale in California, undergo safety testing
by a state approved laboratory. Since,
as observers noted, no labs now exist to
preform this testing and no funding was
provided in the bill for the establishment
of such labs, the bill could have been
used to ban all handguns.
Touted as a safety boosting measure
by its supporters, the bill would
have required so called “junk guns,â€
inexpensive handguns, many of which
are made in California, to meet the same
standards as imported handguns.
“The real test applied by the bill,â€
said Gov. Wilson, “is whether or not the
weapon is readily concealable. By this
definition and test, all handguns, except,
ironically, the largest and deadliest,â€
would be banned.
Gov. Wilson’s veto came after
CCRKBA and other groups, including the
NRA Institute for Legislative Action, the
California Rifle and Pistol Association,
the Peace Officers Research Association,
and the Law Enforcement Alliance of
America, contacted his office regarding
gun owners’ opposition to the proposed
law.
In Washington, D. C., Richard Feldman,
Executive Director of the American
Shooting Sports Council, got together
early last month at the White House
with President Clinton to announce that
major handgun manufacturers by the
end of next year voluntarily will include
gun locking safety devices with their
products.
Participating with Clinton and Feldman
at the October 9 White House event
were executives from handgun makers
Glock, Beretta, Taurus, H&R, Heckler &
Koch, Smith & Wesson Corp., Mossberg
