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Show Officers Express Views on Gun Law Iron County Sheriff Ira Schoppman and Cedar City Police Chief Stan Davis agree that gun control legislation pending before Congress will hurt honest citizens and will not prevent criminals from getting guns. The two officers expressed their opinions during a recent survvey of law enforcement officials in Utah's Second Con-grcsslonal Con-grcsslonal District conducted by Rep. Sherman P. Lloyd, It-Utah. Sheriff Schoppman and Chief Davis both said they favored some control over handguns, but were opposed to registration and licensing of firearms. Both also favored stiff penalties pen-alties for using a gun to com- mit a crime. The opinions of th? two Southern Utah peace officers conforms with those of other Utah law enforcement officials surveyed who see little benefit bene-fit in additional restrictions on firearms, and feel that regulations re-gulations and registration will not appreciably affect crime rates within their jurisdictions. jurisdic-tions. Rep. Lloyd said the opinions of the law officers confirmed his conclusions based on his own research of the proposed laws that registration and licensing li-censing of all firearms would be of little value In curbing violence and crime. "I cannot see where registration regis-tration of long guns will serve a useful purpose at this time," Rep. Lloyd said. "It seems very apparent to me that by placing restrictions on long guns we would be only pretending pre-tending to fight crime and assassinations, as-sassinations, and not actually dealing In realism. "I find little, if any, evidence evi-dence that long guns are extensively ex-tensively involved in crime. In fact, F.B.I, reports that for 1966, rifles and shotguns were used In less than one half of one percent of the total serious ser-ious crimes," the Utah Congressman Con-gressman said. |