White House hopes to extend 5-day wait for handgun purchases

The administration hopes to extend the Brady Act five-day waiting period for handgun purchases, which is due to expire in November, a senior White House official said Sunday.

"We think that's a priority because it has worked effectively," presidential adviser Rahm Emanuel said on NBC's "Meet the Press."The 1993 Brady Act set up the waiting period and required the establishment of a national system to perform instant checks on would-be gun buyers. Under the act, the nationwide instant check system replaces the waiting period on Nov. 30 this year.

The waiting period is designed to weed out convicted felons and others who are barred from buying guns. It gives local law enforcement agencies time to check criminal records before a gun permit is issued. Backers say the waiting period can also head off crimes of passion by imposing a cooling off period on legal gun buyers.

"There is good common sense to the five-day cooling-off period," Emanuel said. Twenty percent of guns used in murders are bought within the week of the murder and "we think the cooling off period is very, very important" in stopping crimes of passion, he said.

In 1996, police checked the backgrounds of 2.6 million would-be handgun buyers, with 70,000 sales blocked because of felony records and other reasons.

The new instant check system will use a network of computers administered by the FBI to give on-the-spot approval to legal gun buyers and flag unauthorized buyers. A gun dealer will be notified within three days whether to reject any flagged sale or go ahead with it.

Tanya Metaksa, the main lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, said similar instant check systems are superior to waiting periods and are already working in 19 states.

"Nobody to date has even suggested that we go and keep the five-day wait," she said in an interview.

While supporting the instant background checks, the NRA is pushing legislation to stop the FBI from imposing a gun tax to pay for the reviews.