[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 24, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1935-S1936]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Chafee, Mr. Schumer, Mr. 
        Lautenberg, Mr. Torricelli, Mr. Reed, Mrs. Boxer, and Mr. 
        Dodd):
  S. 457. 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 permanent brady waiting period act of 1999

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today with my colleagues Senators 
Chafee, Schumer, Lautenberg, Torricelli, Reed, Boxer and Dodd to 
introduce the ``Permanent Brady Waiting Period Act of 1999.'' It is 
vital that we enact this measure if we are to ensure Americans that the 
popular Brady Bill will continue to be one hundred percent effective.
  Five 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 last November, the waiting period was 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 this legislation would do. It would 
require that anyone who wishes a 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 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. If 
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 percent of all crime guns traced by the police were 
used in murders. But the study found that 20 percent 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. Thank you.
  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. 457

       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 ``Permanent Brady 
     Waiting Period Act of 1999''.

[[Page S1936]]

     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. CHAFEE. Mr. President, today, Senator Durbin and I are 
introducing ``Permanent Brady,'' which would establish a mandatory 3 
day cooling off period before the purchase of a handgun.
  I am under no illusion that Permanent Brady will cure the problem of 
handgun violence. But I do believe a waiting period helps. Prior to 
enactment of the Brady law, in some States, an individual could walk 
into a gun store and walk out with a handgun a few minutes later. Sure, 
the individual had to fill out a form certifying that he or she had not 
been convicted of a felony and is not mentally incompetent. But that 
form was meaningless until the police had a chance to check to see if 
the information provided was accurate. Now, the FBI has instituted an 
insta-check system, which is working well. But a permanent three-day 
waiting period gives local police the chance to conduct a check that 
could turn up information not known to the FBI. For example, local 
police could be aware of a restraining order against an individual for 
domestic violence, or could be aware of a potential gun purchaser's 
mental instability.
  A waiting period also can help prevent people temporarily under the 
influence of powerful emotions, drugs, or alcohol from obtaining a 
handgun on impulse, thereby giving them a time to ``cool off'' and 
reconsider before they do something rash.
  Last November the five-day waiting period established by the Brady 
Law was phased out and replaced with the NICS--National Instant Check 
System. Establishment of a nationwide instant background check is a 
good step, but I do not believe that an instant check renders a waiting 
period unnecessary. The bill we are introducing today would restore the 
waiting period.
                                 ______