Part 2 of 2 parts
He cited earlier bans of assault weapons in California and of
"Saturday night specials" in Maryland.
   (In New Jersey today, House members voted to override Gov. Jim
Florio's veto of a bill that weakens the state's ban on
semiautomatic weapons, considered the nation's toughest. The measure
now goes to the Senate.)
   The Virginia action "plugs a hole in a leaky bucket" of lax gun
laws around the country, Weaver said. "But we won't fix the bucket
until we pass sensible, national legislation," including the Brady
Bill, which would require a waiting period for handgun purchases and
background checks of would-be gun buyers.
   Nonetheless, Weaver said Wilder and the state's legislators
"should be justly proud of what they have accomplished."
   Today's action "sends a signal at the national level, and to
other states, that even in a conservative Southern state, there is
support for reasonable restrictions" on guns, Weaver said.
   Gun control proponents were quick to latch on to the success in
Virginia, hoping to use it to build momentum for other measures.
Wilder has been invited to speak to a congressional subcommittee
hearing on interstate gunrunning Thursday.
   Legislative supporters here said the bill should end the parade
of criminals and their agents, known as straw purchasers, to the
state's 5,000 gun shops, where they have been able to buy unlimited
quantities of handguns. Last year, according to federal authorities,
registered gun dealers in the state handled 3,425 sales of two or
more handguns to the same person within five days.
   Combined with lax procedures that allowed purchasers to acquire
false Virginia identification - federal law prohibits the sale of
handguns to nonresidents - the state has become a prime source for
guns that have wound up in the hands of criminals.
   The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms traced 1,236
handguns found at crime scenes in New York in 1991 and found that 40
percent of them had come from Virginia. A similar survey by the ATF
last year showed that 26 percent came from Virginia. In both years,
Virginia was the No. 1 source state for the guns. Virginia also is
the leading source of guns recovered by police in the District of
Columbia.
   Legislators today also passed a second handgun limit bill, but
because it contains a weakening amendment, it is not expected to be
signed by the governor. The amendment, tacked on by the House on
Wednesday, exempts handgun transactions between individuals.
   The state launched a crackdown on illegal gun sales four years
ago, when it required gun dealers to tap into a state police
computer for instant background checks on their customers.
   As lawmakers headed toward adjournment, they also were near final
approval of several other bills that will make it more difficult for
criminals to get guns.
   One would require dealers to increase from 30 days to a year the
time they must retain records of background checks; another would
require two forms of identification, including a driver's license
that is at least 60 days old, to buy a handgun.
   With Virginia on the verge of ending multiple gun sales, Handgun
Control lobbyist Weaver predicted that criminals would turn to West
Virginia, Texas and Georgia for their weapons.
   Those three states ask gun buyers only to swear that they are not
felons, Weaver said. "Drug dealers, mental defectives and felons are
not good bets for an honor system," Weaver said.
   The legislation that was approved today is a somewhat weakened
version of the original proposal. It permits state police to issue
exemptions to the one-gun limit "for lawful business or personal
use."
   Wilder backed off the original bill, which would have made it
more difficult to get an exemption, when he decided it could not
overcome Republican opposition in the Senate. The compromise was
adopted with GOP approval.
   Even with the looser requirements, Lt. Vass said he expects few
exemptions to be approved. They are likely to be limited to people
buying collector guns or from estate sales, or to parents buying
handguns for children as gifts, Vass said.
   On the other hand, merchants who want to buy handguns for their
employees are not likely to qualify, Vass said. He said police will
want to have complete information about the person who will use a
gun.
   While applications for exemptions can be made at state police
substations, or where none exist, at a local police or sheriff's
office, Vass said the decision about whether to grant an exemption
will be made at state police headquarters in Richmond.
   Two other anti-crime bills were sent to the governor today.
   One would ban the sale or possession of the "streetsweeper"
semiautomatic shotgun. The other, proposed after a suspect in the
killing of two people outside the Central Intelligence Agency last
month was identified as a Pakistani, would prohibit aliens with
temporary visas from buying weapons.
   Lawmakers also gave final approval and sent to Wilder a bill
making carjacking a felony with a minimum 15-year sentence upon
conviction.Staff writers Peter Baker and Pierre Thomas contributed
to this report.