[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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