Argumentative Essay: The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act
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The Brady Bill, also known as the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, was an act of Congress that required federal background checks on each individual that purchases a weapon in the United States. The Brady Bill also includes a seven day waiting period so they are able to do a full background check on each person. Back in 1981, James Brady who was the press secretary for President Ronald Reagan, was caught in the middle of an assassination attempt meant for President Reagan. John Hinckley Jr., shot Reagan in the chest and Brady was shot in the head and rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead but made a recovery, but left him crippled. Brady then became the primary advocate of gun control legislation and then in 1987 he was able to introduce a bill to Congress.…show more content… During the movement she became the chairperson of Handgun Control Inc. (HCI), which is an interest group lobbying for legislative to regulate firearms. A few years after Ms. Brady converted to the chairperson of an organization that branched off of HCI’s central idea. This group was called the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, which sought to decrease gun violence by educating. They also had the upper hand because they had the support from soon to be President Bill Clinton. So in 1993, the Brady Bill became a law. A major opposing group of the Brady Bill was the NRA. The NRA believed that background checks were an invasion of one’s privacy. Many people believe that it violates the Second and Tenth Amendment. It violates the tenth amendment, because it is not in the federal government’s jurisdiction to give federal background checks on anyone that is trying to purchase a handgun. The federal government doesn’t have the power to force any lower governments to do anything which they don’t agree