Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 19, 1991 TAG: 9104190154
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
If President Bush gets the crime package he wants, Attorney General Dick Thornburgh said, the proposed ban on nine types of assault weapons would be viewed "much more favorably."
Thornburgh's statements to the Senate Judiciary Committee marked the second time in recent weeks the administration has given ground on gun-control legislation.
Last month, the administration said it would accept the proposed seven-day waiting period for handgun purchases to win passage of its anti-crime package, which includes an expansion of the federal death penalty and curbs on the appeal rights of death-row inmates.
Both gun-control measures "will be favorably reviewed by the administration only as part of a comprehensive crime control package incorporating the key provisions in the president's bill," Thornburgh told the Senate panel.
Thornburgh repeated a threat that Bush would otherwise veto gun-control legislation.
Failure to reach agreement on death-penalty and other anti-crime provisions last fall produced bitter arguments between Congress and the administration.
A House-Senate conference "trashed virtually every tough provision there was and put out a wimpish bill," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, complained at the hearing.
Democrats in the House have said they will not link anti-crime legislation with the gun-control measure they are pushing toward a floor vote this spring.
But Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., expressed a willingness to strike a deal despite his objections to some of the proposals in Bush's anti-crime package.
"I think your willingness to moderate the administration's position on gun-control measures paves the way for passage of some tough legislation," Biden told the attorney general.
Thornburgh stopped short of saying he would urge Bush to sign an otherwise acceptable crime bill that included the gun-control measures, saying: "I don't write blank checks."
The gun bill has gained momentum, particularly after former President Reagan endorsed it.
The ban on nine categories of semiautomatic weapons won Senate passage in 1990 but died in the House.
The administration favors a ban solely on clips, magazines and other devices that allow the firing of more than 15 rounds before reloading. But, Thornburgh said, "There might be a way to merge" the two proposals.
by CNB