GUN WATCH : Vox Populi

From the beginning it was a simple idea. Mandate a five-day period between when a handgun is purchased and when it is delivered. And during that period allow local law enforcement authorities to determine whether the prospective buyer has a record of crime or mental instability.

Simple--and yet only now, six years after it was first introduced, has the Brady bill cleared the final congressional hurdle in what proved to be a difficult and at times tumultuous struggle. It was amended, compromised, passed in the House, killed in the Senate, revived, approved again in the House, then delayed in the Senate once more under a threat of being filibustered to death. Finally, on Wednesday, the conference version was suddenly approved by the Senate. President Clinton has promised to sign it quickly.

In the end it was a momentous shift in public opinion, fueled by rising gun mayhem in cities like Los Angeles, that made the difference. It was vox populi-- the faxes, the letters and the phone calls from constituents--that kept the Brady bill alive and enabled it to ultimately prevail. Over the years those voices of concern have risen from a murmur to a grumble to a full-throated roar that even the most obstructionist senators could not ignore.

No reasonable person would suggest that the Brady bill will end gun violence. But, as Clinton said: “It is a wonderful Thanksgiving present for the American people. It will be a beginning--a beginning in what must be a long and relentless assault on the problems of crime and violence in this country.”