Reagan Assassination Impacts

306 Words2 Pages
Michael Pierce Oral History 3/11/13 GT: Reagan Era ST: Assassination Attempt of Ronald Reagan Focus Question: What impact did the 1981 assassination attempt on President Reagan have on legislation passed and security measures during the 1980’s and 1990’s? III: Development Outline A: The Brady Bill 1) Press Secretary James Brady was shot and left partially paralyzed on the day of the assassination attempt of Ronald Reagan. 2) He went on to be a major advocate of gun control. 3) The Brady Bill was signed into law on November 30, 1993 4) Named the Brady Bill in honor of James Brady 5) Signed by President Clinton 6) The law requires the handgun buyer to wait five business days while authorities do a background check, then the sale is approved or prohibited based on the set of criteria. 7) The law was required for 32 states; the other 18 + The District of Columbia already had regulations like this so they were exempt from the law requirements. 8) The law was opposed by many congressmen who would look to the Second Amendment, and thought that it wasn’t constitutional because of the way it restricted the regulation of ownership of handguns. B: Effects of the Brady Bill 1) "Control and treatment states had the same gun homicide rates before and after the Brady law passed," Cook said. "It made no discernible difference. There is no statistically significant effect." 2) Overall Suicide rates do not decline 3) A study showed that the turndowns for the gun one wanted to buy would not affect their criminal activity. 4) The law has appeared to have no reductions in homicide. 5) The law has appeared to have some reductions in suicide for people over the age of 55. The five day waiting period seemed to deter the thought of suicide.

More about Reagan Assassination Impacts

Open Document