July 2, 1998
      
     
                         Hunters To Face Background Checks

     
     Filed at 1:15 a.m. EDT
     
      By The Associated Press
     
     WASHINGTON (AP) -- The National Rifle Association and gun control
     advocates are in rare agreement about one aspect of a new federal
     restriction on rifles and shotguns -- few people know about it.
     
     Starting Dec. 1, deer hunters and other sportsmen will have to pass
     an instant background check before they can buy a long-barreled gun.
     
     
     The background check, done on the spot in the gun store, will be the
     first national screening of hunters, target shooters and others
     buying rifles and shotguns.
     
     Handgun Control Inc. President Bob Walker said the inclusion of long
     guns drew little notice when Congress passed the Brady law in late
     1993 and even less since then.
     
     ``There appear to be quite a few people that have either forgotten
     about this or never paid any attention in the first place,'' agreed
     Tanya Metaksa, the NRA's chief lobbyist.
     
     Buyers of ``long guns'' were exempt from the Brady Act's requirement
     of a background check and five-day waiting period for handgun
     purchases. The law took effect in early 1994.
     
     But that compromise legislation also looked ahead five years to a
     day when an instant, national computerized background check system
     would be in place, eliminating the need for the five-day waiting
     period and allowing the expansion of background checks to all gun
     purchases from registered dealers. That day is Dec. 1.
     
     Both sides in the perennial argument over gun control are girding
     for friction as gun buyers confront the new restriction. Gun
     merchants, who must explain the new system to prospective buyers,
     predict startled and angry customers.
     
     ``Unless they are pretty active in gun issues or very well-read, I
     bet you the overwhelming majority of gun owners are totally unaware
     this is going to kick in,'' said Steve Schneider, owner of Atlantic
     Guns in Silver Spring, Md.
     
     Joe Garcia, looking over the shotguns at a Wal-Mart near Waldorf,
     Md., knew the law will change but was unclear about the details.
     
     ``They're trying to take away the people's freedom by pieces,'' he
     complained.
     
     Until now, there was no comprehensive check on whether long gun
     buyers were telling the truth on federal firearms forms. The forms
     ask buyers whether they are felons or otherwise barred by law from
     owning guns.
     
     Eight states -- Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Virginia,
     Florida, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Delaware -- already have some
     form of background check covering long guns, according to Handgun
     Control, which led the fight for the Brady law on Capitol Hill.
     
     The issue is tricky for the NRA, which helped engineer the switch
     from a waiting period to the instant check system when the Brady
     bill was before Congress. The NRA regards the instant check as less
     onerous, since the vast majority of buyers will be able to walk out
     of the store with their guns instead of returning to pick them up
     later.
     
     The instant background check system will be much the same as the
     instant checks now done in many states on would-be handgun
     purchasers.
     
     It will scan criminal and mental health records, military discharge
     rosters and other databases to see whether a customer may legally
     buy a gun. The system will not reveal why a customer has been
     rejected.
     
     If it rejects a would-be buyer, it will put a ``hold'' on the sale,
     giving the store and customer three days to assess the problem. If
     the computer then rejects the buyer again, there is an appeal
     process.
     
     The Brady law was named for President Reagan's press secretary,
     James Brady, who was wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt on
     the president. It is most closely identified with the five-day
     waiting period for handgun purchases.
     
     Brady background checks blocked sales of some 69,000 handguns in
     1997, more than half because the prospective buyer was a convicted
     felon or was under a felony indictment, the Justice Department says.
     
     Long guns are used in relatively few crimes, notwithstanding the
     recent school shootings.
     
   
      Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company
      
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      may not be republished or redistributed
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