Fourteen Years after the Brady Law was Enacted

In a speech to the Economic Club of Detroit in May 1999, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., committed to speak often on the issue of gun crimes. To date, he has made 272 Senate speeches on gun crimes since 1999; his remarks follow:

Mr. President, we recently marked the 14th anniversary of the enactment of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. This legislation was a major step in our fight to curb gun violence. According to Centers for Disease Control statistics, since the Brady Law went into effect, the number of gun deaths in the United States has dropped 26 percent, from 39,595 in 1993 to 29,569 in 2004. Even more dramatically, the number of gun homicides dropped by more than 38 percent from 17,024 in 1993 to 10,661 in 2004.

According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun violence, the Brady Law’s requirement that gun purchasers undergo a criminal background check before purchasing a firearm has prevented approximately 1.4 million prohibited purchasers from buying guns from federally licensed gun dealers. By preventing these potentially dangerous individuals from obtaining guns, the law has helped prevent countless tragedies. On this 14 year anniversary, I urge my colleagues to capitalize on the successes of the Brady Law by taking up and passing additional gun safety legislation, such as closing the gun show loophole and establishing an assault weapons ban.

In a New York Times Op-Ed written March 29, 1991, on the 10th anniversary of the assassination attempt on his life and that of his Press Secretary, James S. Brady, President Reagan described his incredible ordeal of surviving the shooting and then went on to talk about Jim Brady. President Reagan said:

“I was lucky. The bullet that hit me bounced off a rib and lodged in my lung, an inch from my heart. It was a very close call. Twice they could not find my pulse. But the bullet’s missing my heart, the skill of the doctors and nurses at George Washington University Hospital and the steadfast support of my wife, Nancy, saved my life.

Jim Brady, my press secretary, who was standing next to me, wasn’t as lucky. A bullet entered the left side of his forehead, near his eye, and passed through the right side of his brain before it exited. The skills of the George Washington University medical team, plus his amazing determination and the grit and spirit of his wife, Sarah, pulled Jim through. His recovery has been remarkable, but he still lives with physical pain every day and must spend much of his time in a wheelchair.

Thomas Delahanty, a Washington police officer, took a bullet in his neck. It ricocheted off his spinal cord. Nerve damage to his left arm forced his retirement in November 1981. Tim McCarthy, a Secret Service agent, was shot in the chest and suffered a lacerated liver. He recovered and returned to duty.

Still, four lives were changed forever, and all by a Saturday-night special, a cheaply made .22 caliber pistol, purchased in a Dallas pawnshop by a young man with a history of mental disturbance. This nightmare might never have happened if legislation that is before Congress now, the Brady bill, had been law back in 1981.”

President Reagan was right. The record of prevention of gun sales to potentially dangerous buyers over the past 14 years and the lives saved dramatically demonstrates that and reminds us of the wisdom embodied in the Brady Law.