Reagan Backs 7-Day Wait for Pistol Buyers

Former President Ronald Reagan, speaking near the hospital where he almost died of an assassin’s bullet 10 years ago, declared his support Thursday for a bill that would require a seven-day waiting period for handgun purchases, calling it “just plain common sense.”

In a dramatic endorsement, the lifetime member of the National Rifle Assn. urged Congress to quickly adopt the so-called Brady bill because “with the right to bear arms comes a great responsibility to use caution and common sense.”

Reagan spoke at a ceremony for the emergency unit of George Washington University Medical Center, to which he and then-Press Secretary James S. Brady--the bill’s namesake--were rushed on March 30, 1981, after they were shot by John W. Hinckley Jr.

Reagan’s surprise endorsement of the bill makes him its highest-profile supporter and occurred at a time when the measure seems to be rapidly gaining momentum. Some attribute the shift to the continuing rash of violence involving guns, an apparent weakening of the NRA’s support and the better organization of gun-control groups.

At the White House, officials suggested that President Bush might support the Brady bill in return for congressional backing of anti-crime legislation proposed by Bush. “We don’t support the bill in its current form, but a lot may depend on what Congress does with the President’s crime bill,” Deputy Press Secretary Roman Popadiuk said.

Advocates of the Brady bill predicted that Reagan’s endorsement would provide a critical boost to the proposal, which failed in the House by 36 votes in 1988.

“This could make the difference,” said Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the criminal justice subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee. He said that many members of Congress have been inclined to support the bill but needed the kind of political cover that Reagan’s endorsement would provide.

Schumer said that, by his count, the measure lacked 10 to 15 votes before Reagan’s announcement. Now, he said, “It’s neck and neck.”

An aide to Rep. Harold L. Volkmer (D-Mo.), a key opponent of the measure, agreed that the vote would be very close.

The bill would provide a waiting period to allow--but not require--local law enforcement agencies to check whether a purchaser has a criminal record or disqualifying mental disorder.

Its enactment would not affect California, which has had a 15-day waiting period and mandatory police review of applicants since the 1960s.

The National Rifle Assn., in a statement, said that Reagan “has an understandable loyalty to James Brady.” NRA executives refused to discuss how the endorsement would affect the bill’s chances.

The NRA has rejected the bill as an unconstitutional infringement on Americans’ right to bear arms. It supports an alternative measure, introduced by Rep. Harley O. Staggers Jr. (D-W.Va.), that would allow instant computer checks of handgun buyers, although critics contend that most police agencies will not have such equipment for several years.

Reagan’s endorsement was a personal victory for Brady, who was shot in the head and was left wheelchair-bound by Hinckley’s attack, and his wife, Sarah. The couple worked through much of the 1980s to promote passage of the bill.

In an interview, Sarah Brady said that she learned of Reagan’s support for waiting periods in 1988 but was reluctant to ask for an endorsement from her husband’s former employer. When she brought up the issue with Reagan, she said, he insisted: “Quote me--quote me any time!”

Last January, after both Ronald and Nancy Reagan again had expressed their support for the Bradys’ effort, Mrs. Brady asked the former President if he would speak out for the bill at the university ceremony. She predicted Thursday that the measure will be passed by a handy margin.

“This has done tremendous things for us,” she said. “Think of the respect Ronald Reagan has in this country.”

The Bradys sat in the front row during the ceremony at the university, which renamed the emergency unit the Ronald Reagan Institute of Emergency Medicine. At the close of the event, the former President and his wife embraced the Bradys.

The Reagan Administration opposed the Brady bill during the congressional fight of 1988. But Reagan insisted Thursday that his declaration did not represent a shift.

“I was opposed to a lot of the ridiculous things that were proposed . . . with regard to gun control,” he said during a photo session with President Bush at the White House.

Reagan denied that he planned to pressure Bush to adopt his position, but Bush volunteered that he was “very interested in the (former) President’s view on that.” Bush’s endorsement of the bill would represent a major shift--Bush also is a longtime NRA member and has been steadfast in opposing any form of gun control.

Former Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III, who attended the dedication ceremony, said in an interview that Reagan, as California governor in the early 1960s, played a key role in adoption of a law that extended the state’s waiting period for the purchase of handguns to 15 days from five. “He was a strong supporter of the idea,” Meese said.

Several signs point to growing support for the Brady bill.

As the gun-control debate has heated up this month, there have been several key defections from the NRA’s position, including Rep. Les AuCoin (D-Ore.) and Rep. Susan Molinari (D-N.Y.). NRA membership has been declining, falling by 300,000 in the last two years, to 2.6 million. And polls show increasing public backing for waiting periods.

Schumer said he expects the bill to come to a vote in the House in early May.

The dedication ceremony for the hospital wing, held in a university auditorium, was an emotional reunion for Reagan and the 65 doctors and nurses who treated him during his 12-day stay. Reagan, Brady, a Secret Service agent and a Washington policeman were shot by Hinckley, the mentally disturbed son of an oilman.

Reagan specifically told university officials that he wanted to see nurse Denise Sullivan, who had held his hand as surgeons removed the flattened bullet that lodged less than a half inch from his heart. Sullivan walked onto the dais during the ceremony, and the two embraced.

Staff writer James Gerstenzang contributed to this story.