Deliverance From Evil

The Bristol (Va.) Herald Courier was the first to report what Sen. Richard Saslaw said on the elevator. Saslaw is the majority leader of the Virginia state senate and represents Fairfax, the Northern Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C. John Pierce was in Richmond lobbying against a new gun control bill and happened to be on the elevator, when, as Pierce tells the story, "He (Sen. Saslaw) turns to his companion and says, "˜You can tell we're debating a gun bill today. Half the cast of Deliverance is in town.' " (Deliverance is the 1972 film about an ill-fated canoe trip, a dumb flick filled with every manner of retarded and perverted backwoodsman.)Pierce sent a press release about Saslaw's quip, the Herald Courier told it to the world and now the pro Second Amendment lobby in Virginia is in an uproar.   (Pierce is a member of the Virginia Citizens Defense League , emblem above.) The radio talk shows got into the act and there are now the inevitable calls for an apology.Sen. Saslaw refused to call back the local press, but he did find time to talk with the Washington Post. Saslaw said, "How do they know I was referring to them and not the other side? I never said anything other than we must be debating the gun bill. I never said which side. Some of those people must have one hell of an inferiority complex."