Gun Control Gets a Boost

Ronald Reagan, a lifetime member of the National Rifle Assn., last week gave an inadvertent boost to the gun-control lobby. At a press conference he was asked about Carl T. Rowan, the Washington columnist who used an unregistered handgun to wound a teen-ager whom he discovered in his back-yard swimming pool; Rowan will not be punished for his stupidity, more’s the pity. The President reiterated his opposition to any ban on handgun sales but added that “there’s some certain things I would go for” in the area of gun control.

Then the President held up as a model for the rest of the nation California’s mandatory waiting period for handgun purchases. The law, on the books since 1953, has been toughened in stages; now anyone wanting to buy a handgun here must wait 15 days while the state Department of Justice investigates his background and checks whether he has a criminal record or a history of emotional illness. Felonies are automatically disqualifying, as are certain misdemeanors involving the misuse of weapons.

“Now I would like to see that generally,” the President said. “All of the states ought to take a look at that system.”

Over the years a number of states have debated such legislation, but only 22 have overcome NRA opposition and adopted laws to delay gun purchases. As a result, it is still difficult to keep handguns out of the wrong hands even in those 22 states; anyone thwarted in his determination to acquire a weapon, no matter how dangerous he might be, often needs only to drive across a state line and buy the gun, without waiting, in a more accommodating jurisdiction.

A federal law would put a stop to that, of course, and now there’s one in prospect. Today, as the House Judiciary Committee marks up the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, Rep. Edward F. Feighan (D-Ohio) intends to introduce as an amendment a measure that would mandate a seven-day waiting period for all handgun purchases across this country. Support from the committee’s Democrats for the waiting period appears solid, but many Republicans are still said to be undecided. We urge them to consider President Reagan’s glowing recommendation and California’s experience with even a short delay in gun transactions.

Waiting periods are not panaceas, obviously. Criminals still manage to acquire weapons by stealing them or buying them on the black market or giving aliases to legitimate dealers. Only a comprehensive ban on handgun purchases and ownership would prevent guns from falling into criminal hands, would forestall the domestic shootings and other needless tragedies that occur because people seek some elusive protection through handguns. But, in the meantime, a nationwide seven-day waiting period, modest as it is, would give law-enforcement agencies some control over who owns guns.