More GOP Gun Concessions

Senate Republicans offered fresh concessions on gun control Wednesday night, but the Clinton administration and Democrats swiftly said they didn't go far enough to plug gaps that allow some criminals to obtain weapons.

A draft amendment circulated by the GOP calls for background checks on all purchasers at gun shows, including transactions exempted in a proposal that Republicans muscled through the Senate last week.

In addition, the proposal would establish a requirement for a mandatory background check for anyone seeking to reclaim their own weapon at a pawnshop.

The concessions marked the latest in a series of retreats by the GOP in the wake of last month's shooting spree at a Colorado high school and a renewed push by Democrats for more restrictions on firearms.

But administration officials prepared a long list of additional issues the proposal didn't address, and one Democrat said Republicans were merely attempting to "fill another leaky boat."

"They don't get it," Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., said of Republicans. "The public gets it."

GOP aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said party leaders hoped that passage of the proposal would persuade enough wavering Republicans to help kill a stronger set of provisions advanced by Democrats.

Votes were expected on Thursday.

For the past week the Senate has been locked in an ongoing debate over juvenile justice, youth violence and gun control, reports CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer.

Buoyed by heightened anti-gun sentiment after last month's Colorado school massacre, Democrats have pressured Republicans to do an about face and adopt some gun-related measures they had shunned in the past.

While making the latest in a series of retreats, Republicans indicated they were drawing the line. GOP aides said the latest amendment had been drafted in a meeting with top Senate Republicans earlier Wednesday.

Democrats also have recast their proposal from a week ago to try and attract GOP support.

Their latest version removes some of the government record keeping and other red tape proposed in connection with gun show purchases. But it also would give the government three days to conduct a background check rather than 24 hours proposed by Republicans.

Democrats also want to wait 90 days before expunging background check records in cases where the purchases are approved. The GOP wants immediate destruction of all records.

Last week, Republicans forced defeat of a Democratic call for mandatory background checks for all gun show purchasers, and approved their own alternative, approved by the National Rifle Association, calling for optional checks.

Within 24 hours, the GOP backpedaled under pressure, and approved a substitute that they said would make background checks mandatory at shows.

Democrats said that measre contained a loophole and would continue to permit unlicensed dealers to sell weapons without conducting a background check on the purchaser.

In addition, they said it would permit individuals to sell their guns at pawnshops and reclaim them without undergoing a check.

But Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said the proposal would allow the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to impose a new fee on gun purchasers. He also said the three-day period for a background check could halt otherwise qualified sales if the show closed before the check was completed.