Senate leaders say the Brady bill requiring a waiting period for handgun purchases is now certain to become law, even if that means dragging legislators back for another session after Thanksgiving.
The Senate and the House still must reconcile differences between their bills, and congressional aides said meetings expected to begin this afternoon could last all night."It's one important step in many steps that must be taken to finally address the problem of violence in America," Attorney General Janet Reno said Monday on ABC.
The Senate passed a bill Saturday night that has a number of provisions - opposed by gun control advocates and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms - not included in a House version cleared earlier.
"The question of timing remains up in the air, but the result is not in doubt," Senate Democratic Leader George Mitchell said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." "It will become law."
Even Senate Republican leader Bob Dole, who voted against the Senate version, said on the same show: "I think it's time to move on. Let's move the Brady bill."
The question is, which one?
Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., the bill's chief House sponsor, said the Senate version is unacceptable. He said he was willing to negotiate with Senate conferees, but he understood that Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho and a member of the National Rifle Association board, was going to block any version other than the one passed by the Senate.
A Craig spokesman, David Fish, declined to give Craig's position.
The House was to appoint its conferees Monday, to be followed by a conference meeting of the two chambers.
It would be technically possible for the conferees to agree on a compromise and have both houses act on the final version before the Thanksgiving recess, but there was no suggestion that would happen.