Weekly Opinion Editorial
BRADY’S
LEGACY!
by Steve Fair
On March 30, 1981, former White House
press secretary James Brady was wounded in an assassination attempt on
President Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley Jr.
On Monday Brady died at the age of 73.
His name became forever associated with gun control after the Brady
Handgun Violence Prevention Act was signed into law by President Clinton on
November 30, 1993. The Brady Act requires that background checks be conducted
on individuals before a firearm may be purchased from a federally licensed
dealer, manufacturer or importer—unless an exception applies.
The Brady Act was
initially proposed in 1987, but the National Rifle Association and other second
amendment groups were able to keep it from becoming law for six years. After its passage, the NRA funded lawsuits
that made their way through the court system to the Supreme Court challenging
Brady’s constitutionality based on the tenth amendment- state’s rights. The NRA argued that local and state law enforcement
officers should not be compelled to do background checks. The Supreme Court ruled in the NRA’s favor,
but gave the option of conducting the checks to local law enforcement. The vast majority continued doing business as
usual and the net effect was no change.
In an average year over
seven million background checks are run on those purchasing guns with 120,000 a
year turned down.(1.7%). Has the Brady
Bill been effective? What has been its
net impact on America?
First,
Brady Bill background checks haven’t reduced crime. Crime rates have actually risen in the twenty
years since the bill was signed. Think
about it- only a stupid or a desperate criminal would attempt to buy a gun to
commit a crime and risk submitting to a background check. He will buy his gun in some dark alley. The background checks are nothing but an
inconvenience and a hassle to the honest citizen. The criminal is going to get his gun
illegally. The NRA is right when it says
that when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.
Second,
every citizen has a God given right to defend themselves. The founders knew this considered it to be an
unalienable right. The
Declaration of Independence affirms that by stating that, "it is their
[the people's] Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government [i.e., a
tyrannical one], and to provide new Guards for their future Security."
This statement presupposes a people's right of self-defense. King George believed that the right of
self-defense originated in government, not in the people. Our founders believed
that right originated from the Creator.
Third,
the fundamental problem is the nature of man. Man has a depraved nature- a wicked sin
nature. Without the regenerating work of
God in his heart, he will be eternally separated from his Creator. Sin is in the heart before it’s in the
hand. Cain killed Able before guns. Good public policy must always recognize the
fundamental problem with mankind is his nature.
George Washington understood it when he said; “It is
vain to exclaim against the depravity of human nature on this account;
the fact is so, the experience of every age and nation has proved it and we
must in a great measure, change the constitution of man, before we can make it
otherwise. No institution, not built on the presumptive truth of these maxims
can succeed."
The Brady Bill simply wasn’t needed
because murder, robbery, assault and other violent crimes were already
illegal. The Brady Bill has done nothing
but erode the liberty of honest Americans.
James Brady may have been sincere, but he was sincerely wrong. He may have been a good press secretary, but
he was a disaster as a policy maker. His
legacy will be one that has made Americans less free.
Now every time some deranged individual
kills unarmed Americans, the liberals proclaim we need fewer guns and more gun
laws. They want to disarm everyone,
wrongly believing that will prevent violence.
The only person in American who has disarmed is the honest American who
has a fundamental right to defend himself.
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