Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act
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The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, also known as the Brady Bill, was passed by the United States Congress, signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 30, 1993, and went into effect on February 28, 1994. The act was named after James Brady, who was shot by John Hinckley, Jr. during an attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981.
Provisions
The Act initially required purchasers to wait five days for a background check to occur before purchasing a handgun from a federal firearms licensee, a dealer who is licensed to sell guns by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (the ATF). Sales between private parties could not be covered under the Act because, opponents of the Act argued, the federal government has no jurisdiction to restrict intrastate commerce. The provision in the Act that mandated local law enforcement officials to carry out background checks was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1997 because, the court ruled, it was an unfunded mandate.
The waiting period provision of the Act expired in 1998 when the National Instacheck System (NICS) came online. NICS is managed by the FBI. The system runs database checks on criminal records. A handgun purchaser may stil have to wait of up to three business days if the NICS system fails to positively approve or deny his or her application to purchase a handgun. Most states have some form of alternative to the background check, such as concealed carry handgun permits or mandatory state or local checks.
Sarah Brady and the Brady Law
The Brady Bill was championed for over a decade by Brady's wife, Sarah Brady, who became an gun control advocate after her husband's shooting. In 1989 she became chairman of the legislative lobby, Handgun Control, Inc. (HCI). In 1991 she became chairman of HCI's "education, research, and legal advocacy" arm, The Center to Prevent Handgun Violence. After the controversial shooting of exchange student Yoshihiro Hattori, she was a guest of honor at the signing ceremony for the bill in 1993, a milestone for her organizations. James Brady, who is severely brain damaged, appeared in a wheelchair.
Court challenge
In 1997, one provision of interim Brady Law was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Printz v. United States on 10th amendment grounds. The provison compelled state and local law enforcement officials to perform the background checks mandated by federal law. The Court determined that this provision violated both the concept of federalism and the that of the unitary executive. However, state and local law enforcement officials were free to conduct the check if they so chose and many continued to do so. This issue became moot when NICS began.
The Brady Law today
The five day waiting period for handgun purchases expired on November 30, 1998 and was replaced by an NRA-sanctioned mandatory, computerized criminal background check prior to any firearm purchase from a federally-licensed firearms dealer. All federally-licensed firearms dealers must now verify the identity of a customer and receive authorization from the National Instant Check System (NICS) which usually takes only a matter of minutes instead of the previously required waiting period.
Unless an exception applies or the purchase is being made using an approved alternative method, Brady Law requires that background checks for individuals be conducted before a firearm may be purchased from an FFL. Unless there are additional state restrictions the firearm may be taken upon NICS approval. Purchases from a non-FFL are not subject to the Brady Law but may be covered under other federal, state (usually) and local (rarely) restrictions. This distinction prevails without regard to the locus of the sale. Thus FFL sales at gun shows are still subject to NICS approval while private sales are not. The so-called "Gun Show Loophole" would be more accurately called a "Private Sale Loophole."
The Brady Law does not apply to licensed Curios & Relics (C&R) collectors but only in respect to C&R firearms [link]. The FFL Category 03 Curio & Relic license costs $30 and is valid for 3 years. Licensed C&R collectors may also purchase C&R firearms from private individuals or from federal firearms dealers, whether in their home state or in another state and ship C&R firearms in interstate commerce by common carrier. Curios or relics are defined in 27 CFR 478.11 as "Firearms which are of special interest to collectors by reason of some quality other than is associated with firearms intended for sporting use or as offensive or defensive weapons." The regulation further states "To be recognized as curios or relics, firearms must fall within one of the following categories:
(a) Firearms which were manufactured at least 50 years prior to the current date, but not including replicas thereof;
(b) Firearms which are certified by the curator of a municipal, State, or Federal museum which exhibits firearms to be curios or relics of museum interest; and
(c) Any other firearms which derive a substantial part of their monetary value from the fact that they are novel, rare, bizarre, or because of their association with some historical figure, period, or event. Proof of qualification of a particular firearm under this category may be established by evidence of present value and evidence that like firearms are not available except as collector's items, or that the value of like firearms available in ordinary commercial channels is substantially less."
External links
- [The text of the Brady Bill]
- [The Brady Campaign website]
- [The Supreme Court decision]
- [Senate roll call vote]
- [House roll call vote]
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