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Editorials
Tuesday, March 14, 2000Anti-gun control ads
may backfire on NRATHE National Rifle Association has begun an assault on the Clinton administration's gun-control proposals that could easily backfire. The attack comes as President Clinton and his housing secretary begin a campaign to reduce gun violence, a campaign that Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush may feel uncomfortable challenging with the same vehemence as the NRA.The issue: The National Rifle Association has accused President Clinton of lying and accepting gun violence for political purposes.
Thirteen advertisements bought by the NRA have started to run on network affiliates and cable TV networks in which NRA President Charlton Heston strongly implies that Clinton has lied on the issue of gun control. "When what you say is wrong, that's a mistake. When you know it's wrong, that's a lie," the former actor says.
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre went so far as to accuse Clinton of being "willing to accept a certain level of killing to further his political agenda and his vice president, too." That remark raised the rhetoric to an outrageous level.
One ad accuses Clinton of lying by saying that 13 children a day die from gun accidents. Heston says the yearly total of accidental deaths of children is 130. But that is not what Clinton said. Clinton's claim, which he recently revised to 12 a year, concerns the number of all gun-related deaths of children, not just accidental deaths. It is based on data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that 4,223 juveniles were killed by firearms in 1997, an average of 11.6 per day.
A central issue in the gun-control debate is Clinton's proposal for 72-hour background checks before completion of gun purchases. The NRA wants the checks to be instant, although obtaining information about a potential gun purchaser's mental or criminal background is not instantly available.
Meanwhile, Andrew W. Cuomo, the secretary of housing and urban development, is going ahead with a $2.6 million program aimed at helping police departments buy back 50,000 guns from civilians.
Some members of Congress contend that Cuomo's department lacks the authority to implement such a program with money originally earmarked for fighting drug abuse in public housing. Congress can address such concerns by redirecting the expenditure, but may not choose to do so.
Most Americans favor gun control and as many as a third favor an outright ban on handguns. The gun association's ad campaign has to be welcomed by Vice President Al Gore as beneficial to his presidential campaign because it may put Bush on the defensive.
Park flights bill
deserves passageAFTER years of debate, a bill authorizing greater federal control over air-tour routes, flight altitudes and flight schedules over national parks is nearing congressional enactment. The bill is aimed at curbing noisy helicopter and airplane tours over parks. Modeled after a voluntary program that has worked well at Haleakala National Park, the bill should satisfy both tour-industry needs and environmental concerns.
Hikers complained several years ago about helicopter noise above Haleakala after the Federal Aviation Administration granted waivers for tour operators to fly as low as 1,000 feet instead of the normal required elevation of 1,500 feet. Pilots and other employees argued that flying any higher would reduce the appeal of the flight and cause a loss of jobs.
A breakthrough came in 1997, when a group that included members of both sides of the issue agreed on recommendations for controlling flights in the parks. The recommendations were embraced in a bill co-sponsored by Hawaii Sen. Daniel Akaka and Sen. John McCain, whose state of Arizona was affected because of air tours above Grand Canyon National Park.
The measure has been approved as part of a larger bill involving FAA funding. It appears headed for congressional approval and the president's signature. "I have repeatedly underscored that air tour operators have a legitimate role in our national park system and offer an important source of income for local economies, notably tourism-dependent areas such as Hawaii," Akaka said.
Shielding hiking areas from noise without destroying the air tour industry is in Hawaii's best interest. The measure pending in Congress appears to accomplish that goal.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
