Officials Urge Gun Control Legislation

University officials joined state and federal government representatives yesterday in a call for legislation to restrict the sale of handguns.

In a written statement issued at a press conference sponsored by the Harvard Coalition for Handgun Control (HCHC), Dean Rosovsky urged the Harvard Community to write to congressmen in support of anti-handgun legislation because "handguns are available to people who should not own them."

The press conference began a week of HCHC activities for National End Handgun Violence Week which is coordinated by the National Coalition to Ban Handguns, based in Washington, D.C.

Rev. H. Frederick Reisz Jr., senior pastor of the University Lutheran Church, represented Harvard's United Ministries at the conference in calling for "an examination of the facts concerning handguns." Handguns are responsible for 23,000 deaths each year and their availability "cannot add to our personal or community security," he said.

Handgun legislation pending in Congress includes a bill sponsored by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54 (D-Mass), who issued a statement at the conference, saying, "Inaction on