[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 4251]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             FOURTEEN YEARS AFTER THE BRADY LAW WAS ENACTED

  Mr. LEVIN. 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 demonstrate that and remind us of the wisdom embodied in 
the Brady law.

                          ____________________