Stars Shoot For Gun Control

Actors Whoopi Goldberg, Beau Bridges and Gregory Peck joined President Clinton in marking the Brady Bill's sixth anniversary with a call for tighter gun-control laws.

A host of Hollywood stars and musicians turned out to attend the fund-raising dinner to celebrate the 1993 law that imposed background checks on gun purchasers and to donate $250 to $10,000 each to promote gun control.

The law, named for former White House spokesman Jim Brady who was seriously injured in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, has stopped 470,000 people from buying guns, according to Justice Department data released Tuesday.

Mr. Clinton has called for new gun-control measures this year following a string of school shootings, including the April killings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in which two teen-age gunmen killed 13 people and themselves.

"Can anyone doubt that there will be another Columbine ... Can anyone doubt that the clock is ticking?" asked movie star Gregory Peck, who received an award from the Handgun Control group to recognize his efforts to reduce gun violence.

The White House had sought to seize on the public dismay at the school shootings to mobilize the Republican-controlled Congress to pass a series of gun-control measures this year.

These include:

• requiring background checks on gun-show weapon sales,
• banning violent juvenile offenders from owning guns when they turn 21,
• requiring child safety locks to be sold with handguns, and
• banning the import of high-capacity ammunition clips.

Mr. Clinton, while hailing the Brady Bill and the assault weapons ban passed in 1994, called on Congress to do more.

"I've come here to say, you have to keep fighting," Mr. Clinton said, saying 12 children die every day from gun violence. "No one believes America is as safe as it should be or can be."

As Goldberg introduced the president at the dinner, which included musical performances by Paula Cole and Dweezil Zappa, she said one of her granddaughters recently asked if she might get killed at school.

"This was kind of chilling, because it wasn't even like I could say 'No, no, it's not going to happen,"' Goldberg said. "We should not ... be speechless when our children say: 'Am I going to make it to Christmas?'"