
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 11, 1991                   TAG: 9104110031
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

GUN CONTROL BILL FACES THREAT OF BUSH VETO

A seven-day waiting period for handgun purchases cleared its first legislative hurdle Wednesday as the Bush administration raised the prospect of a veto unless Congress also passed its crime bill.

The veto threat was made in a letter by Attorney General Dick Thornburgh as the so-called "Brady Bill" was approved 9-4 by the House Judiciary crime subcommittee, which sent the measure to the full committee.

Thornburgh said Bush might refuse to sign the handgun bill unless Congress also passes the administration's crime bill. Supporters of the Brady Bill hailed the attorney general's letter as representing what they saw as a clear signal that President Bush had embraced the concept of gun control, something that he has long opposed.

In the letter, Thornburgh said that "if the Congress acts favorably on the president's comprehensive crime bill, the president will accept, as part of that bill, appropriate measures to identify felons attempting to purchase handguns."

But such legislation "must be presented to the president as part of, or together with, his crime bill," the attorney general said in a letter delivered on the eve of the markup to the subcommittee's chairman, Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

Thornburgh said "the administration will not accept a watered-down version" of Bush's crime bill.

Otherwise, "the president's senior advisers will recommend that he veto any bill . . . that is not part of legislation consistent with his Comprehensive Violent Crime Control proposal," the attorney general said.

Democrats supporting the Brady bill dismissed the seriousness of the veto threat and hailed what they called a significant concession by the administration.

"I am pleased that this letter indicates, for the first time, that the president is not opposed to the concept of the bill per se, but rather, is in favor of enhancements which he believes would facilitate the identification of felons attempting to purchase handguns," Schumer said.

"While I am happy about this shift in position, I continue to believe that the president should move out of the caboose and become the engineer of the train by clearly and unequivocally endorsing the Brady Bill in its current form."

The bill is named for former White House press secretary James Brady who was shot in the head and left paralyzed by a gunman who tried to kill President Reagan in 1981. Reagan last month gave the Brady Bill added momentum with his surprise endorsement of the proposal that he had long opposed.

Bush's proposal would sharply limit the number of habeas corpus appeals that state prisoners on death row could file in federal court to delay executions. It would also relax, in federal court cases, the rule that prohibits introduction of evidence in court if police seized it illegally.

by CNB