In Surprise Shift, Senate Ends GOP Filibuster, OKs Brady Bill : Congress: Measure imposes waiting period for handgun purchases. After 63-36 vote, it goes to panel to be reconciled with House version. Legislation had been thought dead.

In a remarkable end-of-session turnabout, the Senate rescued the Brady bill from legislative limbo Saturday and swiftly approved the five-day waiting period for the purchase of handguns.

The 63-36 vote came after Republican opponents, apparently feeling political heat, abandoned their filibuster tactics and allowed the gun control measure to come to a vote without the changes that they had insisted were non-negotiable.

On final passage, 16 Republicans joined 47 Democrats in favor of the bill, with 28 Republicans and eight Democrats voting against it. Resurrection of the bill was more surprising since it was considered dead for this year when its advocates failed twice on Friday to get the 60 votes needed to shut off debate.

The bill now goes to a conference committee to be reconciled with a version passed by the House. Although the two drafts are not sharply different, it was not clear whether a compromise version could be ready fast enough for final approval before lawmakers adjourn for the year early this week.

With congressional approval virtually certain, the Senate action appeared to set a landmark in the national debate over gun control. The Brady bill--named for President Ronald Reagan’s press secretary, who was wounded in a 1981 assassination attempt--was by far the best-known proposal for new federal restrictions on gun ownership and was seen by some advocates as a possible breakthrough for broader new government action in that area.

At minimum, the passage inflicted a major defeat on the traditionally influential gun lobby, which had fought aggressively to weaken or sidetrack the legislation.

Lawmakers, including many from conservative states, had weighed the lobbying blitz carefully while watching polls indicating growing public support for the measure.

“It’s been a long, difficult and, in its early years, lonely fight,” said Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.), predicting that final enactment was now imminent “at long last.”

Both of California’s Democratic senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, voted in favor of the bill.

The bill requires stores to wait five days before releasing a handgun to a purchaser. It authorizes spending $200 million a year for modernizing state and local criminal records so that a computerized search can check for any criminal histories or indications of mental disorders of potential purchasers. Once the check system becomes instantaneous and operational on a national basis, the waiting period could be eliminated.

Both the House and Senate bills would eliminate the waiting period after five years whether the improved checking procedures are completed or not. Proponents of the so-called “sunset” provision said it would spur the Justice Department to move quickly to implement the new system. Also, once the new computer check process is in place, it would apply to purchases of rifles and shotguns as well.

In a related action, the House showed rare bipartisan unanimity by voting 422 to 0 to ban almost everyone under 18 from possessing a handgun and to outlaw the sale of these guns to juveniles. Since the Senate already has approved a similar provision as part of its omnibus crime bill, it appeared certain to become law.

The action reflected the growing potency of crime and personal safety as a political issue. Congress already has acted on a major crime bill this session, and the White House has indicated that it will put forth a new package of proposals next year.

Opponents of the Brady bill, which has been promoted in a nationwide campaign by Brady’s wife, Sarah, decried the bill as feel-good legislation that would not have any impact on gun violence.

They argued that criminals obtained weapons from an underground black market and only law-abiding citizens seeking to buy guns for self-defense would be affected by the purchasing restrictions.

But polls indicated that an overwhelming number of Americans--and even strong majorities of gun owners and National Rifle Assn. members--favored a waiting period to allow police to make a background check on prospective gun buyers. Police organizations also endorsed the Brady bill.

Some Republicans who had joined the filibuster and blocked a vote on the legislation had second thoughts on Saturday, apparently concerned they were politically vulnerable, and persuaded Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) to reverse his field.

After closed-door negotiations, he and Majority Leader Mitchell came up with a minor change in wording that they described as a compromise but what appeared to be more of a fig-leaf to cover the opponents’ retreat.

Instead of terminating the five-day waiting period after five years, as the bill provided, the revised version would end it after four years unless the attorney general extended the date another year.

But that provision appeared moot when Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee who will control the Senate side of the negotiations in the conference committee, bluntly announced he would drop it before those talks even began.

Switching over to support the bill were Republican Sens. Christopher S. Bond of Missouri, Dan Coats and Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, William S. Cohen of Maine, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, Bob Packwood of Oregon and Strom Thurmond of South Carolina.

Dole, who was the co-author of a similar version of the Brady bill that sailed through the Senate with 67 “yes” votes in 1991 but died under threat of a veto by George Bush, voted against the bill this year.

Biden said the Senate-House conference would act “very quickly” to produce the new reconciled Brady bill. “When we go to conference, I promise you I’ll get a conference agreement within 24 hours,” Biden said.

Meanwhile, the House approved a series of crime bills in preparation for a conference with the Senate on its $22-billion omnibus measure that was passed last week.

By a vote of 421 to 0, the House authorized $710 million for grants to states and nonprofit organizations to reduce violence against women, including funds for rape prevention programs and measures to crack down on domestic violence.

Acting by voice vote, the House also passed other bills to establish a national system to allow background checks to be made on child-care providers and to require people convicted of any offense against a minor to register an address with police for 10 years after release from prison or parole.