Thornburgh Says Bush Links Gun Bill to Anti-Crime Package

Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh suggested Thursday that President Bush would accept a ban on domestic assault weapons as well as a seven-day waiting period on handgun purchases if Congress enacts key elements of the Administration’s anti-crime package.

Thornburgh’s conciliatory comments and the response of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) indicate that Congress and the Bush Administration may be able to agree on a sweeping crime bill this year, despite opposition by key interest groups.

Appearing before Biden’s committee, Thornburgh raised objections to the proposed assault weapon ban and handgun waiting period, both of which are opposed by the National Rifle Assn.

But, he said, the Administration would “look much more favorably” on the proposals if they were contained in legislation that also restored and expanded the death penalty, limited the right of felons to file repeated appeals and lifted bans on use of illegally seized evidence--the central elements of Bush’s anti-crime package.

At the same time, Thornburgh said he would recommend that Bush veto the so-called Brady bill if its provisions are enacted standing alone. The measure would require a seven-day waiting period so authorities could determine whether purchasers have criminal records.

The bill is named for former President Ronald Reagan’s press secretary, James Brady, who suffered brain damage during the 1981 attempt to assassinate Reagan. The former President improved prospects for enactment last month by making a surprise endorsement of the bill.

Attempts to ban domestically manufactured assault weapons and to impose a waiting period for handgun purchases “will be favorably reviewed by the Administration only as part of a comprehensive crime control package,” Thornburgh said.

Biden, in turn, praised what he described as Thornburgh’s “willingness to moderate the Administration’s position,” saying that it “paves the way for passage of a tough crime bill.”