AMERICA IS SUFFERING from a handgun epidemic; there are already 50 million privately owned pistols, revolvers, and "Saturday-night specials" in the country, and another two million are purchased each year. Every day, 63 Americans are killed with handguns; more than half of those shootings are committed by friends, relatives, or acquaintances.

To generate support for stiffer handgun control laws, the National Coalition to Ban Handguns has declared this week, October 25-31, National End Handgun Violence Week. In conjunction with the national effort, a new student group--the Harvard Coalition for Handgun Control--has planned speeches, a debate, a fund-raising dance and a petition drive.

We commend the efforts of both the national anti-handgun coalition and its new Harvard chapter, and we urge students to write their congressmen in support of pending legislation known as the Bingham-Fauntroy Handgun Control Bill, H.R. 40, which would ban the manufacture, sale, and ownership of handguns except for police, military, security guards, and licensed gun clubs.