ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 4, 1996 TAG: 9612040036
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
Several Supreme Court justices voiced doubts Tuesday about a central part of the Brady gun-control law - the requirement that local police check the backgrounds of prospective gun buyers.
``Can the states require the federal government to do something?'' Justice Anthony Kennedy asked acting Solicitor General Walter Dellinger, who argued in defense of the 1993 law.
When Dellinger answered ``No,'' Kennedy responded, ``Why does it work in reverse? Isn't the point not to have one government interfere with another?''
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor questioned ``the notion that the federal government can just commandeer'' state officials to carry out a federal program.
Two sheriffs from Montana and Arizona are challenging the background-check requirement, saying the federal government cannot make them help enforce the Brady law.
There is a ``prohibition on requiring states to administer a federal regulatory policy,'' said attorney Stephen Halbrook, representing Sheriff Jay Printz of Ravalli County, Mont., and Sheriff Richard Mack of Graham County, Ariz.
But Dellinger argued that the requirement is a lawful effort to curb the nation's 13,000 handgun murders each year.
``The information that this individual [gun buyer] may be a convicted felon is right there in the same county,'' Dellinger said.
Under questioning from O'Connor, Dellinger said the government probably could not require states to administer a federal welfare program without offering federal money and the chance to opt out.
``This is just a smaller version of that example, is it not?'' she asked.
O'Connor and Kennedy are considered swing votes on the high court, which in some recent decisions has signaled a shift toward the states in the balance of power with the federal government.
Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who sponsored the Brady law, said Tuesday he will introduce legislation early next year that would deny federal crime funds to counties that refuse to conduct background checks.
The measure requires a five-day waiting period before the sale of a handgun. During that time, local authorities must try to find out if the buyer has a felony record, a history of mental illness or drug use, or some other problem that would make the sale illegal.
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