Banned in Britain

Give Britain's new Labour government credit for starting right off with hard targets: guns and tobacco.

Prime Minister Tony Blair called for toughening already tough gun laws by banning the possession of handguns (as every country ought to do).

And Labour said it would not only forbid all cigarette advertising but also prohibit tobacco-company sponsorship of sporting events.

Meanwhile, back in the USA, Good Housekeeping magazine asked readers to send in coupons pledging support for a bill that would limit an American's gun purchases to one a month. Yes, that's a dozen a year.

Maybe Britain could lend-lease its World War II ally a little gun control.

On the tobacco-ad front the US Supreme Court let stand a Baltimore law banning cigarette and liquor ads on billboards.

Maybe the New World, which sent tobacco to Britain in the first place, is learning from Britain how to kick the smoking-hype habit.