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Subject: Gun Lobby Asserts Gains In Congressional Elections; But Brady Bill Supporters
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 04:53:22 EST
Message-ID: <33.1992Nov10.045323@AmeriCast.com>

Gun Lobby Asserts Gains In Congressional Elections; But Brady
Bill Supporters Predict Enactment<By Gary Lee<Washington Post
Staff Writer=

The National Rifle Association says there is a net gain in gun
sympathizers among members of the 103rd Congress and is girding
for a new fight over the Brady bill, which proposes a seven-day
waiting period for prospective gun buyers that the lobby group
opposes.

NRA chief lobbyist James Baker said that the number of House
members receiving its "A" rating on gun issues increased from 147
to 199 as a result of last week's congressional elections.

But several of the NRA's leading congressional allies were voted
out of office in Tuesday's elections, including Sen. Robert W.
Kasten Jr. (R-Wis.). And a number of gun control proponents the
gun lobby tried to oust survived the elections - including Reps.
Vic Fazio (D-Calif.), Herbert H. Bateman (R-Va.) and Mike Synar
(D-Okla.).

In August, the American Rifleman, a magazine published by the
NRA, listed 24 House members it targeted for defeat. Only two -
Reps. John W.  Cox Jr. (D-Ill.) and Mary Rose Oakar (D-Ohio) -
lost their seats. And Oakar was vulnerable because of overdrafts
at the House Bank.

"My race proved that you can stand up to the gun lobby and win,"
said Synar, a Brady bill backer who survived a costly, high-
profile NRA campaign to defeat him for renomination last summer.
"Even in my home of Oklahoma, which is a strong hunting state, 80
percent of voters favor a waiting period as a way of helping law
enforcement. I have no doubt that the Brady bill will now become
law." After President-elect Clinton endorsed the Brady bill dur-
ing his election bid, the NRA launched an all-out campaign for
pro-gun legislators. "Elect a Clinton-proof Congress," said an
advertisement circulated widely among NRA members. The NRA gave
$1.8 million in political action committee money to congressional
candidates, Baker said.

Last week, 230 lawmakers with an "A" or a "B" rating by the NRA
won seats in the House, compared with 219 members who had re-
ceived the lobby group's top marks in the previous Congress, ac-
cording to NRA lobbyist Baker. The Brady bill passed the House by
a vote of 239 to 186 in May 1991, but died after it was combined
with the omnibus crime bill.

Baker said that the new lawmakers receiving the NRA's top rating
include Reps.-elect Martin R. Hoke (R-Ohio), James M. Talent (R-
Mo.) and Pat Danner (D-Mo.). For incumbent lawmakers, the ratings
are based on voting records and for new legislators on the
results of questionnaires, Baker said.  Brady bill "supporters
are going to do everything they can to get the bill to Clinton.
And we're going to try to keep that from happening," Baker said.
Instead, the NRA is going to renew its push for legislation re-
quiring gun dealers to make an instant background check on gun
buyers. "Clearly there's going to be a fight," Baker said.

Susan Whitmore, spokeswoman for Handgun Control Inc., the leading
gun control lobby, agreed that a fight is in the works but
predicted that Congress will enact a bill this year.

Of the 109 newly elected House members, 57 are supporters of the
Brady bill, Whitmore said.

The NRA "spent $1.8 million in a desperate attempt to elect a
Congress that will oppose the Brady bill and they failed miser-
ably," said Sarah Brady, chairman of Handgun Control Inc. and
wife of James Brady, the former White House spokesman for whom
the bill was named. He was wounded severely in the 1981 assassi-
nation attempt on President Ronald Reagan.

In an attempt to buttress opposition to the Brady bill in the
Senate, which passed it 67 to 32 in a June 1991 vote, the NRA is
backing Georgia GOP senatorial candidate Paul Coverdell, a gun
supporter, over incumbent Sen. Wyche Fowler Jr. (D), a Brady bill
backer, in a runoff scheduled for Nov. 24.

Already a heavy donor to Coverdell's election campaign, the NRA
will make an additional contribution, Baker said. It might also
run advertisements and send Charlton Heston, the actor and NRA
supporter, to help in the campaign.

Of the 11 new members of the Senate, the NRA counts Lauch Fair-
cloth (R-N.C.), Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Ben Nighthorse Camp-
bell (D-Colo.) among its allies, Baker said. Forty senators re-
ceive an NRA "A" rating, he said.<02:26 11-10C9999-----

Copyright 1992, The Washington Post.  This story is from the
Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar-
chived or redistributed.

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