    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [November 30, 1999]
    [Pages 2169-2170]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on the Sixth Anniversary of the Brady Handgun and Violence
    Prevention Act
    November 30, 1999

        Today, on the sixth anniversary of the historic Brady law, I am
    pleased to announce new figures that demonstrate the profound impact
    this legislation has had on public safety. Data released today by the
    Department of Justice show that the Brady law, since its passage in
    1993, has helped block over 470,000 sales by licensed gun dealers to
    felons, fugitives, stalkers, and others prohibited from purchasing
    firearms. In the last year alone, the National Instant Criminal
    Background Check System created under the Brady law has blocked sales to
    over 160,000 of these restricted buyers. These numbers, of course, are
    not just numbers. They represent lives saved, injuries avoided,
    tragedies averted. They are a measure of what we can do to reduce gun
    violence and a measure of what still needs to be done.
        In addition to our success with the Brady law, this administration
    has taken important actions to crack down on the illegal market that
    supplies juveniles and criminals with firearms. Today Treasury Secretary
    Lawrence Summers will launch the newest
    tool to fight illegal gun dealing: ``Online LEAD,'' a new technology to
    help law enforcement across the country use crime-gun tracing data to
    catch more illegal gun traffickers more quickly. As a result of these
    efforts and those of communities across the country, violent gun crime
    is down by over 35 percent since 1992, and the murder rate is at its
    lowest level in over three decades. But while we are more effective than
    ever before at keeping guns out the wrong hands, our work is by no means
    finished. Over 32,000 Americans still lose their lives in gunfire every
    year, including 12 children every day. That is why I pledge to make
    passage of commonsense gun legislation my top public safety priority
    next year. And I challenge Congress to make a New Year's resolution to
    do the same.

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