Heading for Cover

The National Rifle Association, the lobby that has shot down almost all federal gun-control legislation, is planning to move its headquarters out of Washington, D.C. In explaining the shift to a still undisclosed site, N.R.A. President Merrill Wright lists a number of reasons, mostly economic. Crime, he contends, "is far down the line."

But is it, really? In various crimes of violence in Washington since 1974, one of N.R.A.'s lobbyists was shot to death, another employee was shot and wounded, and others have been robbed at gunpoint. Of course, the lobbyists will have to remain in the capital to fight gun control, including a mild ban, recently approved by the House Judiciary Committee, on the manufacture and import of cheap Saturday-night specials.

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