Progress Measured in Tragedy

Few episodes of murderous despair have chilled society as much as Mark Orrin Barton’s shooting rampage in Atlanta last week. The usual raft of psychological theories may be too glib to describe what drove him to such violence, but what is clear, as always in these cases, is that without his high-powered pair of handguns fewer people would be dead.

Not coincidentally, the House Friday voted to support stiffer controls on guns sold at firearm shows, a provision that it rejected only six weeks ago, after the outrage over the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado had cooled. The question has to be asked: Does every inch of progress toward rational gun control have to be measured in blood? How many dead does each forward move take? Would five victims, instead of the nine shot to death, have been too few to budge the National Rifle Assn. loyalists in Congress?

The measure approved by the House was actually a nonbinding resolution. But the vote instructs House negotiators in a conference committee with the Senate to support background checks on all firearm sales at gun shows, instead of just sales through licensed dealers, which is the current law.

Gun control opponents fear what they see as the ultimate horror: federal gun registration or licensing. But that is exactly what most people want, at least for handguns. A Time/CNN nationwide poll conducted before the Atlanta shooting rampage and released Friday said 76% of respondents favored mandatory federal registration of every handgun and 77% favored requiring a license to own a handgun. This is consistent with other recent polls.

Currently, sales are documented mostly at the dealer level. Several states, including California, keep copies of background checks and sales slips but don’t register firearms in the sense that cars are registered. There is no federal system, and millions of guns are still sold without background checks in private owner-to-owner transactions, often used to evade such checks.

The poll found similar levels of support for mandatory childproof locks on handguns and stiffer restrictions on possession of semiautomatic weapons. And politicians heading into an election year, take note: Nearly 60% said they will vote for candidates who favor gun control.