From: [w--g--s] at [lonestar.utsa.edu] (William W. Hughes)
Subject: Re: Text of Brady Bill?
To: jerry (Jerry Stratton)
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 93 14:20:38 CST


==============================================================================
Subject: Dole's proposed Brady modifications


S.1785, INTRODUCED TO REFORM THE BRADY ACT

	The first session of the 103rd Congress closed with the
introduction of S. 1785 by Senator Bob Dole, the result of an agreement
reached to allow final passage of the "Brady bill", now law.  The
agreement guarantees a vote in both the House and Senate
-- after the Congress reconvenes on January 25 -- on restoring two key
provisions dropped from the Senate-passed bill in the House/Senate
Conference Committee.  The two provisions which would be restored by S.
1785 are as follows;

(1) ESTABLISHES STANDARDS FOR DETERMINING WHEN THE NATIONAL INSTANT
CHECK SYSTEM IS OPERATIONAL AND THE WAITING PERIOD CAN SUNSET.  The
Brady Act sunsets the waiting period and requires the instant check
system to be on line at the end of five years.  The Senate-passed Dole-
Mitchell version of Brady required a four-year sunset, with a one year
optional delay at the discretion of the Attorney General.  However,
provisions to expedite the national instant check infrastructure at the
federal level and the standards for determining when the system is
functionally operational were dropped prior to final passage.

* 	S. 1785 restores the four year plus one option for the sunset of
the waiting period.

*	S. 1785 mandates that the national instant check system (computer
hardware and software, and accessibility) will be established within two
years.  Any time thereafter the federal wait can sunset if it is
determined that both of the following two standards are met: Any group
of states that:

- have at least 80% of the population of the U.S. and have reported
during a 12-month period at least 80% of the number of crimes of
violence reported by all of the states during that period; and,

- have achieved and maintained at least 60% currency of felony case
dispositions in computerized criminal history files for all cases in
which there has been an event or activity within the last 5 years.

(2) CLOSES THE MENTAL HEALTH RECORDS LOOPHOLE.  Although the 1968 Gun
Control Act made it illegal for those who have been committed to a
mental institution or adjudicated to be mentally defective to purchase
firearms, the Brady Act, as passed, provides no means of identifying and
stopping these individuals -- even when the national instant check is
operational.

*  	S. 1785 requires each state to establish a plan under which it
will provide to the Department of Justice a notice of the adjudication
of any person as a mental defective or the public commitment of any
person to a mental institution.

*	S. 1785 requires, as a condition of receiving certain federal
funds, each state to provide a certified copy of the record to the
federal government upon request.

(3) TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS.  Several minor technical changes are
necessary to this law, including one to establish that a carry permit,
issued under the same standards as those in the current law governing
permits to acquire or possess a firearm, also exempts the purchaser from
waiting period and the national instant check, and a section striking
redundant and inconsistent language regarding the Attorney General's
duty to respond to requests for reasons for denial.
jmp 12/01/93
                Downloaded from GUN-TALK (703-719-6406)
                A service of the
                National Rifle Association
                Institute for Legislative Action
                Washington, DC 20036