02/17/1993
    WASHINGTON (UPI) -- President Clinton called on Congress
Wednesday night to pass the Brady gun control bill that provides for
a 5-day waiting period to buy a weapon, and promised, "I'll sign
it."
   In an address to a joint session of Congress, he said families
must be protected against violent crime "which terrorizes people and
tears apart our communities."
   "We must pass a tough crime bill," he said. "We need to put 100,
000 more police on the street, provide boot camps for first-time
non- violent offenders and put hardened criminals behind bars."
   "We have a duty to keep guns out of the hands of criminals," he
said. "If you pass the Brady bill, I'll sign it."
   Former President Bush repeatedly refused to approve any gun
control legislation. His predecessor, Ronald Reagan, who was shot by
a potential assassin in 1981, also refused to endorse gun control
while he was in office.
  But two years ago, Reagan startled the country by announcing his support for
the Brady bill, named after his press secretary James Brady, who suffered head
wounds during the attempt on Reagan's life and survived with some paralysis.
   With his wife Sarah Brady in the vanguard, Brady also has become
a strong advocate of gun control.