Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 25, 1993 TAG: 9311250233
SECTION: NATL/ITL PAGE: A1 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
With most lawmakers already gone, Congress set adjournment for Friday.
Republican senators gave up their blockade of the bill, which would require a five-day waiting period and background check on handgun buyers, on condition the Democrats agree to take up a GOP proposal to modify it when Congress returns early next year.
Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell said the bill would be a significant step in fighting violent crime, though he added that supporters were well aware it "will not by itself end violence."
The Senate's Republican leader, Bob Dole, had no praise for the bill but said it was bound to pass eventually and he was getting calls from all sides to "get it settled."
Dole, R-Kan., did have kind words for the man whose name the legislation bears. "After a long, long, hard fight, Jim Brady has won," he said.
Then-Press Secretary James Brady was severely wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Reagan. He has campaigned for gun control since the mid-1980s with his wife, Sarah.
Brady attributed passage of the bill to "people saying enough is enough."
Senators opposing the bill have expressed sympathy for victims of handgun assaults. But they have argued that the bill would do little or nothing to stop such crimes and would keep handguns from only law-abiding citizens.
Clinton, who had tears in his eyes as he talked with Jim and Sarah Brady, said he hoped to sign the bill next week.
Democrats were careful not to predict quick victories against street crime. But Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, D-Del., said, "Today's action was a recognition that the tide has turned in favor of those who support a common-sense step towards getting guns out of the hands of convicted felons."
Passage followed intense negotiations between gun-control advocates and opponents.
Separate versions of the bill had passed both houses of Congress earlier, but Republicans were blocking a final Senate vote on the compromise.
Only a handful of senators were on the floor at the end. Mitchell asked that the bill be passed by voice vote. No "nays" were heard.
The agreement that led to passage requires the House and Senate to consider early next year a Dole proposal to alter portions of the bill. Dole said Clinton had agreed to sign it if it passes.
Dole's measure includes:
Changing the five-year phase-out of the waiting period to four years, giving the attorney general the option of adding a fifth.
Requiring firearms dealers, within two years of enactment, to contact the national computer system to check the background of a handgun or long-gun purchaser before selling the weapon.
Making it possible for a computerized, instant background check system to replace the waiting period before the bill phases out.
The Brady bill already calls for developing such a system, but would keep the waiting period in effect for five years.
by CNB