Brady Bill, officially the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993, established a national five-day waiting period for retail handgun purchases. The bill was named for James Brady, the White House press secretary wounded in John Hinckley's attempt to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981. The waiting period was intended to provide time for police to undertake criminal-records checks of prospective handgun purchasers. Supporters widely hailed passage of the act as a major defeat for the National Rifle Association, the powerful progun lobby that successfully opposed other types of gun controls.
Bibliography
Anderson, Jack. Inside the NRA: Armed and Dangerous: An Expose. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Dove Books, 1996.
—James D. Wright/C. W.
