May 18, 2000
An effort to give Utahns a right to vote on gun control may never make it to the ballot.
News Specialist Scott Light explains what has to happen for this issue to be on the November ballot.
Quite simply, it takes a lot of signatures--70,000 to be exact.
This weekend, people in favor of gun control-- specifically keeping them out of churches and school--. will head to Utah libraries to gather up those signatures.
Janalee Tobias' opinion on gun control has an extra tinge of acid these days.
Janalee Tobias/Women Against Gun Control: "FOR P.T.A. MOMS WHO ARE AFRAID OF CONFRONTATION, THEY MIGHT WANT TO STAY IN THE KITCHEN AND BAKE COOKIES."
That's her message to the moms and other people who are pressing harder to keep guns out of schools and out of churches.
Tobias is butting heads with another woman on the gun issue, Attorney General Jan Graham.
Graham is lending her voice to radio commercials urging people to sign petitions so gun control can go on the November ballot.
Jan Graham/Attorney General: "THE SIGNATURES OF 70,000 REGISTERED VOTERS BY JUNE 1st PUTS THIS ISSUE ON OUR NOVEMBER BALLOT... THIS IS WHAT 80-PERCENT OF UTAHNS WANT. THEY WANT THIS ISSUE ON THE BALLOT AND THEY DON'T WANT GUNS LOADED, CONCEALED HANDGUNS IN SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES."
"I THINK IT'S HYPOCRITICAL OF JAN GRAHAM WHO, ALONG WITH BEATING THE DRUM ABOUT SAVING CHILDREN, AND THEN TURNS AROUND AND MAKES THEM VICTIMS."
Tobias believes teachers should be able to arm themselves for protection.
Graham says gun control is about common sense, not re-writing the second amendment.
"I THINK MOST PEOPLE FEEL THAT THIS ISN'T A HARD ONE AND IT NEEDS TO BE ON THE BALLOT AND IT NEEDS TO BE THE LAW. SO I'M VERY PROUD TO SUPPORT IT."
The effort, however, needs more support.
The group trying to get the signatures says the numbers aren't there yet.
Bill Nash/Utahns Against Gun Violence: "THE PROBLEM IS NOT GETTING PEOPLE TO SIGN THEM BUT GETTING THEM TO THE PERSON TO SIGN.
SO IT'S A DISTRIBUTION, ORGANIZATIONAL PROBLEM AND IT'S NOT A TRIVIAL ONE."
And that's why the group Utahns Against Gun Violence is calling this Saturday "Signature Saturday," to get more names on the petitions.
But Janalee Tobias and her group "Women Against Gun Control" said the petitioners have to realize they're taking on the whole gun lobby.
