Assessing the Impact of the Brady Bill, 20 Years Later

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Nov 11, 2013, 02:55 ET

WASHINGTON, Nov. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sarah Brady, Chair of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the campaign's president, Dan Gross, will appear at a National Press Club Newsmakers news conference to assess the success of the Brady Handgun Violence Protection Act, more commonly known as the Brady Bill, two decades after it was signed into law.

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At the event – scheduled for Tuesday, November 19 at 10 a.m. in the National Press Club's Lisagor Room – they will also discuss additional steps they feel are necessary to prevent gun violence.

President Clinton signed the legislation into law on November 30, 1993 and it went into effect the following February. Enactment of the Brady law changed the then existing "lie-and-buy" system to a "background check-then-buy" system, requiring that every sale of a gun by a licensed dealer be referred to law enforcement for a background check on the purchaser.

The law is named for Jim Brady, press secretary to President Ronald Reagan. Brady, President Reagan, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy and District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delehanty were shot during the March 30, 1981 assassination attempt by John Hinckley, Jr. Brady suffered a serious head wound that left him partially paralyzed for life. Hinckley purchased the revolver he used in the assassination attempt at a Texas pawn shop, providing a fictitious home address, just four days after being arrested at Nashville's Metropolitan Airport for attempting to board an American Airlines flight with three handguns and loose ammunition. Hinckley had also been under psychiatric care prior to purchasing the gun.

This National Press Club Newsmaker event is scheduled for Tuesday, November 19, at 10 a.m. in the Lisagor Room on the 13th floor of the National Press Building, 529 14th St. NW, Washington, DC 20045.

Contact: Anthony E. Gallo, Newsmaker event host
202 -544-6973, [email protected]

SOURCE National Press Club