[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 44 (Monday, November 8, 1993)]
[Pages 2240-2241]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Exchange With Reporters Prior to a Meeting With James and Sarah Brady

 November 2, 1993

Crime and Handgun Legislation

    Q. Jim, is the crime bill going to pass?
    The President. He asked you. Yes, it's going to pass. What do you 
think, Jim? He wants to know if the crime bill's going to pass

[[Page 2241]]

and the Brady bill. That's what Terry [Terence Hunt, Associated Press] 
asked you.
    Mr. Brady. Well, this is your house, so I'll defer to you, sir.
    The President. I already said yes. You answer it.
    Q. In that case, Mr. President, I'm wondering if you could tell us 
what the Brady bill would do in urban areas, like the District of 
Columbia, where the guns that kill people are not sold so much in shops 
but more on the street, where there's not much of a waiting----
    The President. But they all do come out of regular manufacturers, 
and they come into the country. And what the Brady bill would do, it 
would make uniform the losing battle a lot of States are fighting now, 
because they're all alone, to at least check those people who do buy 
from registered gun dealers. And there are an enormous number of people 
who do have criminal backgrounds, who have mental health problems, who 
don't even meet any kind of age requirement. We would be able to check 
all that uniformly, nationwide. We find now that in a lot of States that 
have pretty strict gun laws, an enormous percentage of the guns that are 
confiscated by law enforcement officials every year come from other 
States that don't.
    So we do have some evidence that these laws work, but it's not the 
end-all and be-all. We've got a couple hundred million guns out there. 
There are a lot of other problems that we need to deal with in terms of 
minors in possession, in terms of assault weapons, in terms of the way 
the permitting process works for Federal arms dealers.
    But the Brady bill is the first step. And we are going to pass it 
this year, I believe, because the American people finally have heard the 
long call of Jim and Sarah Brady. They've been out here on this for 
years and years and years, oftentimes alone with no support. And 
finally, thanks to the leadership of the Members of Congress who are 
here and others, we're going to be able to put it over.
    Q. Does it go far enough?
    Q. [Inaudible]--enough votes----
    The President. To pass it? I believe we clearly have the votes to 
pass it if we can get it to the floor. Mr. Schumer got it out of the 
House subcommittee last week, and we're hoping that the House committee 
will mark it up this week. Senator Biden's going to bring it up separate 
from the crime bill so that no one will be able to hide behind other 
issues in trying to find clever ways to filibuster it. And I compliment 
him on that. And I just believe that the time has come.
    And you read all these stories, like the story that was in the 
Washington Post yesterday of the children planning for their funerals. I 
think it's going to be very difficult for the Congress to justify 
continued inaction on what millions of Americans believe is the number 
one problem in their lives.
    Q. [Inaudible]--on the Newsday report saying that--[inaudible]--
campaign?
    The President. First of all, we did nothing improper, and I have 
nothing to say about it.

Note: The exchange began at 11:10 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. Former White House Press Secretary James Brady was wounded in the 
1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. His wife, Sarah, 
is head of Handgun Control, Inc. A tape was not available for 
verification of the content of this exchange.