Brady Law expansion -- smart politics, but good policy?

August 26, 1996
Web posted at: 11:35 p.m. EDT

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Clinton Monday added to a string of recent proposals with a measure to bolster the Brady Law to prevent people convicted of domestic violence incidents from buying hand guns.

It's a move that has already drawn fire from the National Rifle Association (NRA) as it broadly expands existing gun control legislation and links two hot-button issues that aren't commonly associated.

Clinton said he believes the Brady Law should be extended to "cover anyone with a domestic violence conviction. They shouldn't be able to buy handguns. Thousands of people who are wife beaters or child abusers, even those who have wielded weapons can still buy handguns with potentially deadly consequences."

Congress passed the Brady Law, or the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, in February, 1994, named after James Brady, President Reagan's press secretary who was severely wounded by a bullet in the assassination attempt on Reagan in 1981.

It requires states to conduct background checks on anyone purchasing a handgun to prevent a convicted felon from purchasing the deadly weapon.

The measure also applies to those found by a court to be mentally defective or subject to a restraining order.

But the president's recent proposal would extend the handgun restriction to a far broader group. Nobody knows how many incidents of domestic violence involve guns.

But more than 2 million domestic violence incidents are reported each year, and it's estimated that 150,000 involve firearms.

The NRA said the president is fighting domestic violence the wrong way.

"We believe domestic abuse should be considered as the serious felony that it is. Then those abusers would be denied the right to own a firearm for the rest of their lives," said NRA lobbyist Tanya Mataksa.

The president may have succeeded in putting the NRA in the awkward position of trying to defend the rights of spouse and child abusers.

And the move is sure to win plaudits from many women, who tend to favor gun ownership restrictions and gun control advocates.

But is it sensible policy? The president's proposal does address an apparent loophole in the judicial system, in which domestic violence offenders in many cases are classified more leniently than other violent criminals.

That's because domestic violence cases are often plea bargained from felonies to misdemeanors. And since federal law does not prohibit people convicted of misdemeanors from buying guns, a spouse abuser could theoretically escalate a domestic dispute by going out and legally purchasing a Saturday Night Special.

U.S. Rep. Charles Schummer, (D-New York) posed the question: "Do you think someone who beats his wife deserves to have a gun?"

Then there's the question of the effectiveness of gun control in general and the Brady Law in particular. The NRA claims that only 11 people have been convicted as a result of Brady Law violations. But President Clinton said 60,000 fugitives and stalkers don't have guns today because of the measure.

The Center for Handgun Violence, led by James Brady's wife Sarah, Sunday released a report that said more than 102,000 people including 72,000 felons have been prevented from buying guns because of the Brady Law.

But even those numbers are open to interpretation. When the law took effect, 32 states had no legislation requiring a background check and were required to institute a five-day waiting period under the Brady Law.

In estimating the number of denials for all of those states where the measure applied, the study relied on nine states that have statewide reporting systems.

Tom Wyld, an NRA spokesman, said he viewed the study's conclusions skeptically, arguing that many buyers have been denied guns because they have been misidentified or hadn't paid overdue parking tickets.

"Too many people are denied for the wrong reasons," said Wyld.

CNN Correspondent John Holliman and Reuters contributed to this report.

Brady Law expansion -- smart politics, but good policy?

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