Clinton, Brady Join in Big Push for Gun Control
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WASHINGTON — President Clinton joined James S. Brady in launching a major push Tuesday to get Congress to impose a waiting period for handgun purchases.
Brady, the onetime White House press secretary who was wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt against President Ronald Reagan, was welcomed to the Oval Office with his wife, Sarah, the head of the anti-gun lobby, Handgun Control.
“I think it’s going to be very difficult for the Congress to justify continued inaction on what millions of Americans believe is the No. 1 problem in their lives,” Clinton said.
Congress for years has shied away from gun control legislation, but the political climate appears to be changing as Americans seek relief from soaring homicide rates and urban violence.
Clinton wants Congress to vote in the next two months on the long-stalled Brady bill, which would impose a waiting period of five business days before a handgun purchase so that the purchaser’s background could be checked.
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