Paper Tiger?

Will the Brady Law Work After Instant Check?

Introduction

Although the change is taking some people by surprise, this five-year sunset was laid out explicitly in the text of the Brady legislation. Despite the straightforward transition in the law, people on both sides of the gun control debate are now waking up to a number of issues that were glossed over when the law first passed in 1993.

This report provides basic background on the transformations in the Brady Law. In particular, it examines:

• How and why the Brady Law is changing
• The architecture of the new Brady Law procedures and its potential shortcomings
• An overview of issues being raised about the Brady Law transition

Before exploring these topics, it is important to recognize at the outset that the Brady Law is narrow in scope and limited in its effect. It attempts to enforce provisions in federal law prohibiting convicted felons and persons in eight other itemized categories from purchasing firearms. The 1968 Gun Control Act, as amended [see 18 U.S.C. Section 922], prohibits the following classes of person from possessing or transferring firearms, and outlaws the transfer of firearms to them:

• persons indicted or convicted of a felony;
• fugitives from justice;
• drug addicts and unlawful users;
• illegal aliens;
• persons discharged dishonorably from the military;
• persons who have renounced U.S. citizenship;
• persons committed to mental institutions or "adjudicated mental defectives";
• persons under court orders restraining them from stalking or harassing intimate partners or their children;
• persons convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence.

Finally, the Brady Law's system of background checks applies only to firearm sales transacted through federally licensed gun dealers. According to a 1996 study sponsored by the Police Foundation, some 40 percent of all firearm sales take place outside of this framework�at gun shows or flea markets, through classified advertisements, through personal sales, and the like. These sales are virtually unregulated under current law.

Indeed, the Brady Law's legislative history lays no claim to a broader mandate:

The purpose [of the Brady Law] . . . is to prevent convicted felons and other persons who are barred by law from purchasing guns from licensed gun dealers, manufacturers, or importers. [Conference Report, Nov. 10, 1993, House Report 103-344]

Thus, in spite of the debate about the Brady Law, it has a limited reach. In fact, there is little evidence that the Brady Law has had or is likely to have any significant effect in reducing the major causes of gun violence in America�suicides, unintentional shootings, and homicides among people who know one another. More effective measures are needed in those areas.

Go to next section, Summary of Brady Law Changes

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