GUN-CONTROL WATCH : Brady Bill Vote

Today, for the second time in six years, the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the Brady bill, a measure so sensible that America should be embarrassed for the lawmakers who failed to muster the courage to support it in the past.

The bill--named after James Brady, the presidential press secretary who was critically wounded when Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981--would mandate a five-day period between purchase and delivery of a handgun. The wait would allow authorities to conduct background checks on purchasers.

The bill not only deserves to be passed, it deserves to be passed without all the garbage amendments proposed by the National Rifle Assn. Such tactics have a single goal: ultimately to wipe out strong state and local gun laws, such as California’s 15-day wait for purchasers of handguns, rifles and shotguns. This law is credited with keeping 10,000 firearms out of the hands of convicted murderers, the mentally ill and others who clearly should not be allowed to own guns.

Congress also must avoid the temptation to set a “sunset” date for the Brady bill. It would take time--how much no one can be sure--to set up the national “instant check” system that some are urging. Only after such a system is up and running should consideration be given to eliminating the waiting period.

Since the Brady bill was first proposed, in 1987, handgun homicides have totaled more than 150,000, rising 52%. Given those numbers and the strong public outcry, why wait any longer? Pass the Brady bill--the honest one.