On November 30, 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the Brady Bill. The Brady bill requires that background checks be conducted on an individual before a firearm can be purchased. The bill also prohibited certain persons from receiving, shipping or possessing a handgun. These prohibitions include convicted felons, fugitives, drug addicts, the mentally unstable, illegal aliens, individuals honorably discharged from the Armed Forces, anyone who has renounced U.S. citizenship, those under court restrains, and those convicted of domestic violence.
This bill, named after James Brady who was shot by John Hinkley Jr during an attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. James Brady was Ronald Reagan's Press Secretary. He was shot in the head and left partially paralyzed for life. Jim Brady's wife Sarah became very active in the gun control movement after the shooting. According to Sarah, had a background check been conducted on Hinkley, it could have detected some or all of his criminal and mental heath history. It could have prevented the tragedy.
Prior to 1993, there had been much debate over the years regarding gun control. Gun violence had skyrocketed in the 1980's and reached a peak in 1993. The Brady Bill was originally introduced to Congress in 1987, but it took seven years before the legislation finally became law. During those six years, the Brady Bill was one of the most hotly contested issues in the country, dividing gun control advocates and opponents including the National Rifle Association with the anger and passion that is usually reserved for social issues. Then in a final battle over Thanksgiving weekend, the Brady Bill was passed in the Senate, and signed by President Clinton several days later.
In President Bill Clinton's first state of the union address, he urged congress to be tough on violent crime. He wanted put more police officer's on the street and guns out of the hands of criminals. And in a superfluous gesture, he made a bargain with Congress, "if you will pass the Brady bill, I'll sure sign it."
"And I ask you to help to protect our families against the violent crime which terrorizes our people and which tears our communities apart. We must pass a tough crime bill. I support not only the bill which didn't quite make it to the President's desk last year but also an initiative to put 100,000 more police officers on the street, to provide boot camps for first-time nonviolent offenders for more space for the hardened criminals in jail. And I support an initiative to do what we can to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. Let me say this. I will make you this bargain: If you will pass the Brady bill, I'll sure sign it."http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=47232
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brady_Handgun_Violence_Prevention_Act
http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1425&context=ulj
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