Gun Sales Curb Sought

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31289, 8 February 1967, Page 13

Gun Sales Curb Sought

(N.Z.P.A.-Heuter— Copyright) WASHINGTON, February 6.

President Johnson, launching a big new anti-crime drive, today appealed for laws to curb gun sales and protect citizens from attacks in the street.

In a message to Congress, the President said that with crime climbing ever higher, property losses alone approached 3000 million dollars a year.

The President described crime In the United States as “a major social problem which, like a plague, was responsible for rising fear and economic and physical damage.” To illustrate what was happening, he said a survey made in high crime areas of two of the largest United States cities found, that 43 per cent of those interviewed stayed off the streets at night, 35 per cent did not speak to strangers, 21 per cent used only cabs and cars at night, and 20 per cent would like to move to another neighbourhood. Mr Johnson expressed concern over surveys showing that the incidence of crime was highest in the 15 to 21 age group. 15-year-olds Studied Fifteen-year-olds committed mote of the serious crimes thsfe any other age group,

with 16-year-olds close behind.

More than 50 per cent of arrests- for burglaries were of youths under 18. But Mr Johnson disputed claims that crimes of violence resulted from racial hatred. He said those who committed such crimes more commonly did so against members of their own race, and that relatively few major crimes were Inter-racial. The President made a strong plea for firearms control, a problem highlighted by the assassination of President Kennedy. Control legislation has failed in Congress in earlier years, chiefly as the result of the opposition of the National Rifle Association and other groups. Recommended Measures

The legislation recommended today would: Curb foreign imports of surplus military firearms and other weapons not suitable for sporting purposes. Bar mail-order sales, except to holders of Federal licences. Forbid over-the-counter sales of firearms, other than rifles and shotguns, to any person who does not reside in the state of sale. Prohibit the sale of handguns to any person under 21, and rifles and shotguns to any person under 18. Mr Johnson called on Congress to outlaw all wire-tap-ping, by Federal and local

governments as well as private individuals, and invasion of privacy by electronic devices such as radio transmitters and concealed microphones. The only exceptions would cover crimes where the security of the nation itself was at stake, and then only under the strictest safeguards.