Brady Bill Clears Logjam in Senate for Final Approval : Legislation: Clinton gets compromise version of gun-control measure after GOP drops politically damaging filibuster. Congress recesses for the year.

A weary Senate ended its standoff over the Brady bill Wednesday, quietly approving a compromise version that will require purchasers of handguns to submit to a background check conducted during a waiting period of five business days.

The bill was passed on a voice vote as the last major order of business before Congress recessed for the rest of the year. The legislation has already been approved by the House and now goes to President Clinton to be signed into law.

For all the furor that had surrounded the bill, its final passage happened with little fanfare. Most senators had already left town when Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) and Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) announced that they had come up with an arrangement that would allow the bill to pass with the Senate’s unanimous consent.

However, to mark the importance of the moment, Vice President Al Gore made a rare trip to the virtually empty Senate chamber to oversee passage of the measure in his role as president of the Senate.

Republicans, looking for a way out of what had turned into a politically difficult situation, dropped a filibuster of the bill after Democrats promised them a vote early next year on separate legislation to address some of their objections.

If they had not, they faced the unpalatable prospect of returning to Washington next week to again go on record as blocking legislation that had become linked in the public’s mind with the war on crime. Mitchell had vowed to bring the Senate back into session after Thanksgiving if the standoff continued.

“I think the American people would have been real disappointed if . . . Congress had gone home without this bill, and I think they’ll be very happy now,” Clinton said after the vote. “It’s a great Thanksgiving present.”

Dole added: “We were realistic. I was getting calls from (Republicans) who were for and against the Brady bill, saying: ‘Why don’t you get it settled?’ Sooner or later, the Brady bill would have passed.”

All sides of the debate agree that the bill alone is not much of a cure for the national epidemic of violent crime, but it has become an important symbol in the battle to keep handguns out of the hands of criminals.

It began seven years ago as a lonely crusade by Sarah Brady, wife of former presidential Press Secretary James S. Brady. Her husband suffered a crippling wound in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, and she insisted that the tragedy could have been avoided if there had been a waiting period and background check on handgun purchases.

By the time the measure finally passed, public opinion polls showed that the bill enjoyed the support of more than 90% of the American public, and it was that sentiment--in a year when crime had risen to the top of the political agenda--that finally overcame the opposition of the powerful gun lobby.

“How sweet it is,” James Brady said after the vote. “Why was it so damn difficult to take this single step?”

Then, the former press secretary offered an answer to his own question: “There were three letters of the alphabet: NRA.”

The Bradys’ most formidable adversary had been the National Rifle Assn., one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington.

Some of its strength lies in its financial muscle: It spent almost $2.7 million in congressional campaigns last year, both in direct contributions and in “independent campaigns” for or against selected candidates. In some individual races, it spent more than $130,000.

But its real potency lies in the passion of its 3.3 million members.

“The influence that the organization has had is basically because of the concern of millions of Americans who are sportsmen and who are involved in gun ownership that the government will go too far in restricting their use,” said House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.). “The National Rifle Assn. gives voice to that.”

While it might seem inexplicable that the organization should mount such an exhaustive battle against such a seemingly beneficial idea as a waiting period for handgun purchases, Foley noted that the NRA will often stake out extreme positions--just as the American Civil Liberties Union will take on such unpopular causes as protecting the speech rights of Nazis.

By battling on the fringes, he contended, such organizations believe that they can stave off attacks on more conventional ideas or rights. Their fight, he added, is “not on the beaches but off the shores, in the surf.”

From the start, the NRA derided the idea of a waiting period as a pointless gesture. “It only forces the honest citizen to wait,” said Tanya K. Metaksa, a member of the NRA board of directors. “The criminal doesn’t care. He gets his gun illegally.”

Instead, the NRA argued for a computer “instant check” system, under which gun dealers could ensure that purchasers are not criminals or that they have not been found to be mentally unbalanced.

However, the bill’s supporters argued that the NRA proposal was merely a smoke screen because it is technically impossible to put such a system in operation for at least several years.

Ultimately, they married the two concepts--putting the waiting period into effect for at least five years, or until an instant check system is actually in operation and proven effective.

It is in the fine print that Dole and his Republican allies hope to make changes early next year.

To speed the use of an instant check system, Dole’s proposal would abolish the waiting period within two years if a computer check system is in place that includes states with at least 80% of the U.S. population and contains data that reflects 80% of the violent crime within those states and the disposition of at least 60% of the felony cases.

Dole’s proposal would also require states to put into the computer system the records of those deemed by a court to be mentally defective or who had been committed to a mental institution--a requirement that would raise warning flags about more potential buyers than would the current legislation.

His bill, he said, would “move on to how we can keep firearms out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them.”

Twenty-two states have already tried the waiting-period approach. California extended its 15-day waiting period to all firearms in 1991, and its law would be unaffected by the Brady bill. Last year, background checks conducted during the 15-day waiting period were credited with preventing 5,763 sales in California.

At the same time, however, the amount of violent crime in the state has continued to rise.

The Brady bill marks the first major gun-control legislation to make it through Congress since 1968, when lawmakers banned mail-order rifle sales in the wake of the assassinations of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

It was clear that the political tide had turned late Saturday night, when a group of fearful Republicans persuaded Dole to abandon the filibuster against the bill.

However, the legislation again appeared to be in peril when a House-Senate conference committee on Monday rejected Senate GOP amendments and insisted upon the stricter House version of the measure.

Outraged, Republicans accused the Democrats who control Congress of acting in bad faith, and they again lined up against the measure.

But when Mitchell threatened to reconvene the Senate for what promised to be an embarrassing vote next week, they implored to Dole to find a way out.

“After a long, long hard fight, Jim Brady has won,” Dole said. “All of us will feel better having this issue behind us.”

Times staff writer Dwight Morris contributed to this story.

Basics of the Brady Bill

First introduced seven years ago, the measure is named for James S. Brady, the former White House press secretary who was wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt on then-President Ronald Reagan.

THE BILL WOULD

1) Require a five-business-day waiting period for buying a handgun. This begins 90 days after President Clinton signs the bill.

2) Require local law enforcement to research state, local and national records to check whether a would-be buyer is legally eligible to buy a handgun. The ineligible would include convicted felons, minors, those adjudged mentally incompetent, drug addicts and illegal immigrants.

3) Authorize spending $200 million a year to help states improve computer criminal records for use in national background checks.

4) Require notification of state and local police of multiple handgun sales.

5) Increase fees for federal firearms licenses to $200 for the first three years and $90 for renewal.

STATE HANDGUN LAWS:

Many states already require a waiting period for handgun purchases. The Brady bill would not preempt stricter state laws.

States with gun laws that delay handgun purchases Washington Oregon California Hawaii South Dakota Nebraska Wisconsin Minnesota Iowa Missouri Illinois Indiana Tennessee Alabama Florida North Carolina Virginia Maryland Delaware Pennsylvania New Jersey New York Massachusetts Connecticut Rhode Island *

* States already requiring a wait before guns are sold: 25

* Longest state waiting period (New York): 6 months

* Shortest state waiting period (Alabama, Pennsylvania): 48 hours

* California’s waiting period: 15 days

* States that require permits: 11

* Last year in which a federal gun-control law was passed: 1968

Source: Handgun Control Inc., Times staff and wire reports