After her son died last August in an accidental shooting in a White Marsh-area town home, Carole Price and her family moved to Carroll County, retreating from the daily reminders of tragedy.

Yesterday, with television cameras and reporters following her every move, Price brought that summer day back into focus for legislators in Annapolis. With a photograph of 13-year-old John pinned to her lapel, a nervous, soft-spoken Price urged a Senate committee to pass a bill targeting adults whose negligence leads to the death of a child.

The proposed legislation itself has some problems, as its sponsor, Sen. Thomas L. Bromwell, acknowledged. It overlaps existing laws and, had it been on the books last year, it would not have led to the prosecution of any adult in the death of young John Price.

But as his mother told the committee yesterday, she wanted something positive to come out of her family's experience.

"If one child's life can be spared from this bill, then our son would not have died in vain," she said. "Maybe John could have truly died a hero."

The march from personal suffering to political activism, seen every session in Annapolis and in state houses across the nation, can be a cathartic, healing process. For Price, it was nerve-racking and tiring.

She came at the invitation of Bromwell, a Democrat who lives near the townhouse development where her son was accidentally shot by a 9-year-old boy with a gun the children found in a bedroom of the other boy's home.

No charges were filed in the case. Under Maryland law, an adult who fails to keep a gun away from children can be charged with a misdemeanor, but prosecutors decided the owner of the gun could not be held responsible.

Price and her husband, John, decided last fall to pursue a change in Maryland law to make it a felony to leave a gun where children can find it. Bromwell, concerned that any gun bill would have difficulty passing without the National Rifle Association's support, proposed instead a more generic felony for adults whose "gross negligence" leads to the death of a child.

Carole Price agreed to come before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee to support the Bromwell bill. Shortly after 12: 30 p.m., two hours before she would testify, she was doing interviews before cameras. By the time she gave her brief testimony, she seemed drained, almost overwhelmed.

Then she sat alone at a table in the middle of a hearing room and could only shake her head as a public defender and prosecutor testified against the bill.

They argued the measure was too broad, duplicated existing manslaughter law and would unintentionally hinder some child abuse prosecutions. Promises were made that opponents would work with Bromwell to try to fix the legislation, but Price left, uncertain about the bill's fate.

"I'm not so sure," she said. "You don't leave here with anything more than you came with."

Price, 35, finished her day by meeting with Sen. Barbara A. Hoffman, a Baltimore County Democrat who has introduced a bill that would make it a felony, punishable by up to three years in prison, to leave a gun where children can get it.

Carole Price supports the bill, but it will be her husband who comes back to Annapolis to testify for it.

"I'm exhausted," said Price, with her 8-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter at her side. "Right now, I would just like any bill passed."

Pub Date: 3/03/99