[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 95 (Thursday, July 16, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8386-S8387]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Chafee, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. 
        Torricelli, Mr. Reed, and Mrs. Boxer):
  S. 2324. A bill to amend section 922(t) of title 18, United States 
Code, to require the reporting of information to the chief law 
enforcement officer of the buyer's residence and to require a minimum 
72-hour waiting period before the purchase of a handgun, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.


             the brady waiting period extension act of 1998

 Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today I with my colleagues Senators 
Chafee, Lautenberg, Torricelli, Reed, Dodd, and Boxer introduce the 
``Brady Waiting Period Extension Act of 1998.'' It is vital that we 
enact this measure this year if we are to ensure Americans that the 
popular Brady Bill will continue to be one hundred percent effective.
  Almost 5 years ago, Congress passed the Brady Bill. That law 
contained a provision that required a 5 day waiting period before a 
person can buy a gun. Unfortunately, on November 30 of this year, the 
waiting period will be eliminated when we begin using the national 
instant check system for gun purchasers.
  I fully support the use of an instant check system to determine if a 
putative firearm purchaser is legally barred from owning a gun because 
of a criminal record. But I believe that it must be coupled with a 
cooling off period.
  Let me briefly explain what his legislation would to. It would 
require that anyone who wishes to buy a handgun must wait three days. 
There are two exceptions to this requirement. First, if a prospective 
purchaser presents a written statement from his of her local chief law 
enforcement officer stating that the handgun is needed immediately 
because of a threat to that person's life or that of his family, then 
the cooling off period will not apply. Second, if a prospective 
purchaser lives in a state that has a licensing requirement--and there 
are 27 such states--then the federal cooling off period will not apply.
  I think that both of these are common sense exceptions. Obviously 
people who have a legitimate and immediate need of a handgun for self-
defense should be able to buy one. And in the states that have 
licensing or permit systems, the process of getting a permit acts as a 
state cooling off period.
  This measure also requires that when a person applies to buy a gun 
that the gun shop owner send a copy of the application to the local 
chief law enforcement officer. In addition, it alters the amount of 
time that the state or federal government has to investigate a 
potential purchaser who has an arrest record. Under the law that will 
go into effect on the first of December this year, if a person with an 
arrest record applies for a gun, law enforcement will have three days 
to determine if that arrest resulted in a conviction. The measure we 
introduce today would give law enforcement five days.
  Mr. President, let me walk you through the process of buying a gun if 
this law were in place.
  If you are in a state that does not have a permit system in place, 
then you go into a store and fill out a purchase form. A copy of that 
form will be sent to the Insta-Check point of contact for your state 
and a copy will also be sent to the chief law enforcement officer for 
where you live. You will then need to wait three days whereupon, 
assuming that you do not have a criminal record or any of the other 
disqualifying characteristics, you will be able to pick up your gun.
  If on the other hand, when the Insta-Check is run, the FBI learns 
that you were arrested, then you will have to wait at least 5 days. 
That five days will be used to determine if the arrest resulted in a 
conviction. If it did not, then after 5 days you can get your gun. It 
you were arrested and convicted then you cannot get your gun and may be 
prosecuted.
  Enacting this law is only sensible. A cooling off period may be the 
only barrier between a woman and her abusive husband whose local 
restraining order doesn't show up on a computer check or the only 
obstacle in the way of a troubled person planning to commit suicide and 
take others with them. A cooling off period will prevent crimes of 
passion and spontaneous suicides. The list of people who have bought 
guns and used them within a few hours or a day to kill themselves or 
others is far too long.
  A recent study by the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence demonstrates 
a disturbing trend that reinforces the need for a cooling off period. 
Normally, 4 to 5% of all crime guns traced by the police were used in 
murders. But the

[[Page S8387]]

study found that 20% of all guns traced within 7 days of purchase were 
used in murders. That is a startlingly high incidence of guns being 
bought and used very soon thereafter to commit a murder.
  But this measure has a second, equally important justification.
  That the Insta-Check system is in very good shape, but it will never 
be perfect. For example, it will not have a lot of mental health 
records. And it is unlikely to have information like restraining orders 
entered in domestic violence cases. Letting local law enforcement know 
about a potential gun purchase is a good idea--the local sheriff may 
know that a person trying to buy a gun has a restraining order while 
the FBI's Insta-check computer might not. In short, then, this bill 
will help serve as a fail safe mechanism for the Insta-Check system. I 
for one do not want to learn a year from now that someone got a gun and 
used it to harm someone else when a simple check of local records in 
addition to the Insta-Check would have revealed that the purchaser had 
a history of mental instability.
  Making the Brady waiting period permanent is not about more 
government. It's about fewer gun crime victims. I hope that we can all 
agree on this goal.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 2324

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be referred to as the ``Brady Waiting Period 
     Extension Act of 1998''.

     SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF MINIMUM 72-HOUR HANDGUN PURCHASE 
                   WAITING PERIOD.

       Section 922(t) of title 18, United States Code, is 
     amended--
       (1) in paragraph (1)--
       (A) in subparagraph (A)--
       (i) by striking ``before the completion of the transfer, 
     the licensee'' and inserting ``after the most recent proposal 
     of the transfer by the transferee, the licensee, as 
     expeditiously as is feasible''; and
       (ii) by inserting ``and the chief law enforcement officer 
     of the place of residence of the transferee'' after ``Act'';
       (B) in subparagraph (B)(ii)--
       (i) by striking ``3'' and inserting ``5''; and
       (ii) by striking ``and'' at the end;
       (C) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period at the end 
     and inserting ``; and''; and
       (D) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(D) if the firearm is a handgun--
       ``(i) not less than 72 hours have elapsed since the 
     licensee contacted the system;
       ``(ii) the transferee has presented to the transferor a 
     written statement, issued by the chief law enforcement 
     officer of the place of residence of the transferee during 
     the 10-day period ending on the date of the most recent 
     proposal of such transfer by the transferee, stating that the 
     transferee requires access to a handgun because of a threat 
     to the life of the transferee or of a member of the household 
     of the transferee; or
       ``(iii) the law of the State in which the proposed transfer 
     will occur requires, before any licensed importer, licensed 
     manufacturer, or licensed dealer completes the transfer of a 
     handgun to an individual who is not licensed under section 
     923, that an authorized State or local official verify that 
     the information available to the official does not indicate 
     that possession of a handgun by the transferee would be in 
     violation of the law, and the authorized State or local 
     official has provided such verification in accordance with 
     that law.''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(7) In this subsection, the term `chief law enforcement 
     officer' means the chief of police, the sheriff, or an 
     equivalent officer of a law enforcement agency, or the 
     designee of any such officer.
       ``(8) A chief law enforcement officer who is contacted 
     under paragraph (1)(A) with respect to the proposed transfer 
     of a firearm shall, not later than 20 business days after the 
     date on which the contact occurs, destroy any statement or 
     other record containing information derived from the contact, 
     unless the chief law enforcement officer determines that the 
     transfer would violate Federal, State, or local law.
       ``(9) The Secretary of the Treasury shall promulgate 
     regulations regarding the manner in which information shall 
     be transmitted by licensees to the national instant criminal 
     background check system under paragraph (1)(A).''.

 Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I am pleased to join with 
Senator Durbin in introducing the Brady Waiting Period Extension Act of 
1998.
  This legislation will build on the incredible success of the original 
Brady Act, which I cosponsored. Since that law went into effect in 
February 1994, our hard-working law enforcement officers have prevented 
more than 240,000 felons, domestic abusers, and mentally ill people 
from buying guns. In 1997 alone, 69,000 prohibited purchases were 
stopped. Because of the Brady Act, and the Domestic Violence Gun Ban 
which I authored, over 6,000 criminals convicted of domestic violence 
offenses were prevented from buying a gun last year.
  These laws are working. They are saving countless lives, helping to 
protect women and children, and making our streets safer. Just imagine 
how much more gun violence there would have been, if these gun 
purchases had not been stopped.
  And the Brady Act does more than just stop handgun purchases--it 
helps the police put violent criminals behind bars. Consider just a few 
examples:
  The Brady Law stopped a handgun sale in Colorado to a man who was 
wanted for armed robbery in the State of Washington. As a result of the 
Brady check, he was arrested in Colorado and extradited back to 
Washington.
  In Utah, an individual trying to purchase a handgun from a pawn 
dealer was arrested by the Salt Lake City Police Department on a felony 
warrant held by the State of Colorado for aggravated sexual abuse of a 
child.
  Incredibly, criminals continue to try to buy guns at gun stores. But 
thanks to the Brady Law, they do not get the deadly tools of their 
trade, and lives are saved.
  The legislation I am introducing today will build upon this success. 
As my colleagues know, the five-day waiting period for handgun 
purchases will expire in November of this year, and be replaced with a 
computerized background check system. While we all hope that this 
computerized system will work well, there are some potential problems. 
The Department of Justice and the FBI have done a good job centralizing 
most crime record, but some information, like restraining orders and 
mental health records, will not be available through the system.
  Our bill will ensure that no criminals slip through the system, by 
requiring that the Brady forms be sent to the chief law enforcement 
officer where the buyer resides. This requirement will give local 
police the opportunity to look through local records and determine 
whether the buyer is a prohibited purchaser.
  This legislation will also provide a 72-hour waiting period for 
handgun purchases. By maintaining a brief ``cooling off'' period, we 
can help prevent crimes of passion and suicides. When you consider that 
20 percent of funds used in murders are purchased in the week before 
the crime, this provision will help save lives.
  Mr. President, these are sensible provisions that will help reduce 
gun violence in our nation. And make no mistake about it, there is much 
work to be done.
  In the United States, firearm violence is currently the second 
leading cause of injury-related death, behind automobile-related 
fatalities. This violence is increasing at an alarming rate. By the 
year 2003, firearm fatalities are projected to become the United States 
leading cause of injury-related death.
  Violence is taking a terrible toll on our children. Homicide is the 
third leading cause of death for youths 5 to 14 years old and the vast 
majority of these homicides were committed by firearms.
  Mr. President, our nation can do better. We can and we must stop the 
gun violence on our street. The Brady Waiting Period Extension Act will 
help us toward that goal, and I urge my colleagues to support 
it.

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