For a Weapon With a Past, A New Life of Crime.

IN a city whose mayor has been one of the nation's most outspoken proponents of gun control, Councilwoman Diana Reyna of Brooklyn has distinguished herself by considering a bill to ban sales of a different weapon: the machete. In July and August, four machete attacks were reported in the southern part of Williamsburg, where many of Ms. Reyna's constituents live. Late last month, worries over machete violence again rippled through the community when a stray bullet hit a 5-year-old girl in nearby Ridgewood during a shootout. One of the young people involved in the attack was seen wielding a machete. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]