Rodino Says House Panel Will Kill Senate Gun Bill

A Senate-passed bill easing federal gun control laws will be “dead on arrival” when it reaches the House Judiciary Committee because the Senate rejected key modifications sought by liberals and law enforcement officials, committee Chairman Peter W. Rodino Jr. (D-N. J.) said Wednesday.

The measure would end an absolute ban on the interstate sale of handguns and other weapons and would guarantee most gun owners the right to carry their arms across state lines. It has been sought by the National Rifle Assn. and other conservative groups since federal gun laws were toughened after the 1968 assassinations of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Senate passed the bill Tuesday, 79 to 15, after the Republican-run chamber rejected an amendment that would have imposed a 14-day waiting period before a customer could pick up his gun from a dealer.

In addition, the Senate rejected an attempt by liberals to retain the ban on interstate handgun sales but permit dealers to make over-the-counter sales of hunting rifles and other sporting weapons to out-of-state customers.

Rodino said that those two changes would have made the bill “palatable and something we can work with.” But, he added, the measure that emerged from the Senate “can only increase the chance that murder, robbery and other violent crimes will hit more innocent victims and destroy more lives.”

Opponents of the measure contended that easing restrictions on handguns would make it easier for criminals to obtain guns and more difficult for police to trace weapons used in crimes. But backers said that current gun laws unfairly burden law-abiding gun owners and dealers with red tape and the threat of harassment by federal firearms agents.

Rodino has introduced his own gun measure in the House. It would impose a 21-day waiting period and ban the manufacture, importation and sale of inexpensive “Saturday-night special” handguns.