PART 1 OF 3 PARTS
02/07/1993, By Pierre Thomas, Washington Post Staff Writer
   COLUMBIA, S.C. - After the bullet exploded out of the pistol's
barrel at 1,000 feet per second, Richard Haughton got ready for the
next shot at his cardboard targets. Haughton, who was at a firing
range here preparing for an upcoming competition, loves to shoot.
And there are times, he said, when he would like to walk into a gun
store and buy a couple of new pistols.
   But he can't - South Carolina law won't allow it. Since 1975, it
has been against the law for anyone here to purchase more than one
handgun within 30 days.
   The experience in South Carolina, the only state with such a law,
has become a focus in Virginia, where a similar proposal from Gov.
L. Douglas Wilder is the subject of intense debate in the General
Assembly. A House committee endorsed the bill Friday night. A Senate
committee is scheduled to vote today.
   Proponents say South Carolina used its law to stop the flow of
guns purchased here to criminals in East Coast cities. Opponents,
most prominently the National Rifle Association, say the South
Carolina law has done nothing to reduce violent crime in the state.
   "I can't see where there is a real advantage to it," said
Haughton, 50, of Columbia. "All it does is hurt the dealer and the
legitimate buyer."
   Target shooting nearby was John Green, 27, of Columbia, who
doesn't feel restricted by the law. "If I want to get more than one
handgun, I just have to wait," said Green, noting that the statute
controls people "trying to quickly build up an arsenal."
   One fact stands out in the debate: Though South Carolina once was
a leading source of guns recovered at New York City crime scenes,
its 1975 law has all but wiped out that embarrassment, according to
federal statistics.
   About 500 handguns traced in New York during six months of 1973
came from South Carolina, around 20 percent of the total traced, a
study by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found.
South Carolina ranked as the No. 1 source among all the states;
Virginia was fourth, with 169 handguns traced.
   A similar study conducted last year showed that 27 guns - 3
percent of those traced in New York - came from South Carolina. It
ranked ninth among the states.
   Virginia ranked first, with 229 guns traced.
   Like Virginia today, South Carolina discovered 17 years ago that
criminals in search of firepower were being drawn across its borders
to smuggle guns to northern cities. An estimated 40,000 small,
inexpensive handguns were trafficked from South Carolina, an ATF
report says. Stories about the pistol pipeline followed on
television's "60 Minutes" and in national newspapers.
   "There were stories about people taking watermelon trucks up
north and selling the fruit during the day at markets and selling
their pistols at night on the street," said Dan DeFreese, of the
South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the state police agency
here. "Everybody got up in arms."