House to Begin Debate on Easing Gun Control

Eighteen years ago, following the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a stunned Congress passed landmark federal controls governing the sale of firearms. But now gun-control foes are on the offensive--and the question seems to be not whether, but how much those restrictions will be eased by lawmakers.

The House is scheduled to begin a crucial debate today on two measures that could bring the first major changes in the 1968 Gun Control Act. One proposal, backed by the National Rifle Assn., is similar to a bill already overwhelmingly approved by the Senate legalizing the interstate sale of handguns. The second, a compromise measure given less chance of passage, would ease some existing federal controls but retain the ban on interstate handgun sales.

The bitter fight over the new legislation has split two traditional conservative allies--gun-control foes and law enforcement groups--and sparked charges of high-pressure lobbying by well-financed and politically potent pro-gun groups.

‘Grossly Distorted’

“Unfortunately, this issue has been grossly distorted,” Rep. William J. Hughes (D-N.J.), a sponsor of the compromise measure, said at a House Rules Committee hearing on the issue Wednesday. “There has been an effort to intimidate and bully members (of Congress).”

But an official of the 3-million-member NRA noted that previous proposals to revise the law were sidetracked for six years in the House Judiciary Committee.

“Sportsmen and firearms owners have no choice but to exert lots of pressure to get the measure to the House floor,” said Wayne R. LaPierre Jr., governmental affairs director of the NRA. “Our members feel very strongly about this issue.”

The question of increased government control over the estimated 200 million rifles, shotguns and handguns in private hands in the United States has generated considerable controversy over the last two decades. Gun-control supporters have sought to connect rising crime rates to the proliferation of handguns, the more easily concealed weapon favored by criminals.

Gun-control foes cite the constitutional right to bear arms and say that restrictions would do little to stop felons and would inhibit legitimate self-defense measures by law-abiding citizens.

Laws Vary Widely

The 23,000 state laws and local ordinances now in effect in the country vary widely. Under current federal law, interstate sale of handguns is prohibited and there are restrictions on interstate rifle and shotgun sales. But there are no federal restrictions on interstate transportation of weapons, which is left to state control.

Federal law also requires licensed dealers to keep records on all firearms transactions and allows federal authorities to inspect dealers’ records and inventory at all “reasonable” times.

The NRA-backed bill is officially supported by the Reagan Administration and was passed 79 to 15 last July in the Senate. It would permit residents of one state to make over-the-counter purchases of handguns in another state; ease dealer record-keeping requirements; increase the evidentiary burdens on prosecutors in some gun-law cases; safeguard the interstate transport of unloaded, “not readily accessible” firearms, and require federal agents to give gun dealers notice before inspections.

That proposal, sponsored by Sen. James A. McClure (R-Ida.) and Rep. Harold L. Volkmer (D-Mo.), was called “dead on arrival” by Judiciary Committee Chairman Peter W. Rodino Jr. (D-N.J.) when it arrived for consideration in the House. But in an unusual move, its backers secured signatures from 218 members to force the measure to the House floor for consideration.

The measure has drawn an unusually strong attack from 11 law enforcement groups, including the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police, whose spokesmen say it contains “gravely dangerous” provisions--particularly the legalization of the interstate sale of handguns. About 50 uniformed officers protesting the bill are scheduled to patrol the halls of the Capitol today as the House debate begins.

‘Crime-Control Issue’

“This is not a gun-control issue but a crime-control issue,” Hubert Williams, president of one of the 11 groups, the Police Foundation, said Wednesday. “Law enforcement is united in the fight against increasing the flood of handguns to criminals, the mentally unstable and impulse buyers bent on violence.”

Supporters of the NRA bill respond that federal laws in many instances are being enforced against law-abiding citizens guilty of no more than technical violations and that gun dealers have been burdened by unnecessary record-keeping requirements. As for criticism by law enforcement groups, the NRA’s LaPierre replies: “We really believe some of the national leaders of these groups are out of step with their members.”

Meanwhile, in an effort to head off the NRA-backed bill, the Judiciary Committee has proposed its own compromise measure, allowing interstate sales of rifles and shotguns but leaving intact the current prohibition on interstate handgun sales. The committee bill also requires handgun customers to provide background information to be checked by authorities but there is no waiting period before the weapons could be acquired. Other provisions are similar to the NRA-backed bill.