Gun Rationing

Virginians have been anxious to change their state image as the gunrunning capital of the East Coast and reduce the hauls taken in by police from the streets, such as these found in Richmond. And so, urged on by Governor L. Douglas Wilder, both chambers of the state's legislature passed new gun- control legislation last week. While slight differences in the two versions of the measure have to be ironed out, both contain a central feature that perhaps only the National Rifle Association could consider unreasonable and lobby strongly to defeat: people will ordinarily be able to buy no more than one handgun a month. That should be enough for most amateur gun lovers, but not for the black-market professionals who have been buying weapons by the dozens and smuggling them into such crime-ridden cities as Washington, Baltimore, New York and Boston. As many as a quarter of New York City's handguns can be traced back to Virginia.