FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Two years after the Brady Act took effect, Attorney General Janet Reno and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said that it was working the way it should and warned against any efforts to repeal it.

The Treasury Department estimates that the Act has stopped more than 60,000 felons, fugitives and other prohibited purchasers from buying handguns over the counter during the last two years.

The Act and other crime-fighting measures, say Rubin and Reno, helped reduce national violent crime rates by four percent in 1994 and another 5 percent in the first half of 1995. Firearms were used in six percent fewer assaults in 1994 than in 1993.

When signed into law by President Clinton in November 1993, the Brady Act -- named for Jim Brady, the former press secretary to President Ronald Reagan seriously injured in a 1981 assassination attempt -- established a waiting period of up to five business days, affording local law enforcement authorities a chance to determine if sales are prohibited by law.

"Each month the Brady Act is preventing nearly 2,500 criminals from buying guns while permitting law-abiding citizens to do so," said Rubin. "Gun dealers and their customers have now had time to adjust to the simple Brady background form as a necessary means of denying guns to criminally dangerous individuals."

Reno added, "Brady law checks are also helping local police identify and arrest gun-buying criminals, often on other serious charges. The Brady checks have helped law enforcement arrest murderers, drug dealers, wife-beaters and other criminals."

Brady Act Success

Just this month, for example, a Brady check helped the Wichita County Sheriff stop a handgun sale to a man who had battered and threatened to kill his ex-wife and children. He was under a restraining order.

Another Brady check in October 1995 helped ATF agents apprehend a convicted murderer as he tried to buy three handguns in Dekalb County, Georgia. Before the Brady Act, he had purchased at least eight other guns without being challenged. He has since been convicted of violating federal firearms laws and awaits a prison sentence of up to ten years.

And last April, a Brady check helped ATF agents and local police apprehend a convicted heroin dealer and fugitive trying to buy a gun in Blair County, Pennsylvania. Prior to Brady, he had purchased at least seven other guns without challenge and traded them to support his crack cocaine addiction. He is now serving two years in prison on various charges.

Other leading law enforcement officials also expressed their support for the Act.

"It is clear on this second anniversary of the Brady Act that the waiting period has prevented thousands of criminals from obtaining firearms and has saved lives," said Gilbert G. Gallegos, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP). "Members of the FOP continue to be impressed with the cooperation between the ATF and local law enforcement in implementing the Brady Act."

International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) President David Walchak noted, "The IACP strongly pushed for Congress to pass legislation allowing for a five-day waiting period to conduct thorough background checks on all prospective handgun purchasers. The IACP continues to strongly support the Brady Act."

Reno also pointed to the Act's other benefits. "The Brady Act has been a catalyst for improvements in automating the nation's criminal history records, helping prepare for 21st century crime fighting. In the last two years the Justice Department has made more than $130 million available to states and worked with localities to help them automate their criminal history records -- improvements that will also help track sex offenders, domestic abusers and child molesters, and help child-care facilities and nursing homes screen potential employees."

How It Works

Federal law prohibits possession of a handgun by a variety of persons: convicted felons, fugitives from justice, persons under indictment, persons subject to restraining orders for alleged domestic violence, illegal drug users, persons who have been adjudicated "mentally defective" or committed to mental institutions, persons who have renounced their U.S. citizenship, persons dishonorably discharged from the military, illegal aliens and, generally, persons under 18 years of age.

The Brady Act requires prospective handgun purchasers to complete a background form that is forwarded to the chief law enforcement officer (CLEO) where the applicant resides. Law enforcement then has up to five business days to check the applicant's record and advise the gun dealer as to whether or not the purchase is legal. However, a CLEO can approve a legal gun sale in fewer than five business days. And if the dealer receives no response by law enforcement in five days, a sale can go forward.