Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Thursday, April 18, 2013

Why I'm for the Brady Bill By Ronald Reagan



Ronald Reagan, in announcing support for the Brady bill yesterday, reminded his audience he is a member of the National Rifle Association Published: March 29, 1991



 "Anniversary" is a word we usually associate with happy events that we like to remember: birthdays, weddings, the first job. March 30, however, marks an anniversary I would just as soon forget, but cannot. It was on that day 10 years ago that a deranged young man standing among reporters and photographers shot a policeman, a Secret Service agent, my press secretary and me on a Washington sidewalk. I was lucky. The bullet that hit me bounced off a rib and lodged in my lung, an inch from my heart. It was a very close call. Twice they could not find my pulse. But the bullet's missing my heart, the skill of the doctors and nurses at George Washington University Hospital and the steadfast support of my wife, Nancy, saved my life. 

 Jim Brady, my press secretary, who was standing next to me, wasn't as lucky. A bullet entered the left side of his forehead, near his eye, and passed through the right side of his brain before it exited. The skills of the George Washington University medical team, plus his amazing determination and the grit and spirit of his wife, Sarah, pulled Jim through. His recovery has been remarkable, but he still lives with physical pain every day and must spend much of his time in a wheelchair. Thomas Delahanty, a Washington police officer, took a bullet in his neck. It ricocheted off his spinal cord. Nerve damage to his left arm forced his retirement in November 1981. Tim McCarthy, a Secret Service agent, was shot in the chest and suffered a lacerated liver. He recovered and returned to duty. Still, four lives were changed forever, and all by a Saturday-night special -- a cheaply made .22 caliber pistol -- purchased in a Dallas pawnshop by a young man with a history of mental disturbance. This nightmare might never have happened if legislation that is before Congress now -- the Brady bill -- had been law back in 1981. 

 Named for Jim Brady, this legislation would establish a national seven-day waiting period before a handgun purchaser could take delivery. It would allow local law enforcement officials to do background checks for criminal records or known histories of mental disturbances. Those with such records would be prohibited from buying the handguns. While there has been a Federal law on the books for more than 20 years that prohibits the sale of firearms to felons, fugitives, drug addicts and the mentally ill, it has no enforcement mechanism and basically works on the honor system, with the purchaser filling out a statement that the gun dealer sticks in a drawer. 

 The Brady bill would require the handgun dealer to provide a copy of the prospective purchaser's sworn statement to local law enforcement authorities so that background checks could be made. Based upon the evidence in states that already have handgun purchase waiting periods, this bill -- on a nationwide scale -- can't help but stop thousands of illegal handgun purchases. And, since many handguns are acquired in the heat of passion (to settle a quarrel, for example) or at times of depression brought on by potential suicide, the Brady bill would provide a cooling-off period that would certainly have the effect of reducing the number of handgun deaths. 

 Critics claim that "waiting period" legislation in the states that have it doesn't work, that criminals just go to nearby states that lack such laws to buy their weapons. True enough, and all the more reason to have a Federal law that fills the gaps. While the Brady bill would not apply to states that already have waiting periods of at least seven days or that already require background checks, it would automatically cover the states that don't. The effect would be a uniform standard across the country."

14 comments:

Silverfiddle said...

And the Brady Bill became law. God bless Ronald Reagan.

Jerry Critter said...

Ronald Reagan is probably closer to a Democrat than a republican today. That's not saying much for either the Democrats or the republicans.

FreeThinke said...

A MORE URGENT and CURRENT TOPIC:


April 19, 2013 - 7:40 AM EDT

1 OF 2 MASS. BOMB SUSPECTS DEAD; SUBURBS SHUT DOWN

BY EILEEN SULLIVAN, MEGHAN BARR AND KATIE ZEZIMA 
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WATERTOWN, Mass. (AP) -- Two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing killed an MIT police officer, injured a transit officer in a firefight and threw explosive devices at police during their getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left one of them dead and another still at large Friday, authorities said as the manhunt intensified for a young man described as a dangerous terrorist
.
The suspects were identified to The Associated Press as coming from the Russian region near Chechnya, which has been plagued by an Islamic insurgency stemming from separatist wars.

A law enforcement intelligence bulletin obtained by the AP identified the surviving bomb suspect as Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, a 19-year-old who had been living in Cambridge, just outside Boston, and said he "may be armed and dangerous."

Two law enforcement officials told the AP that Tsarnaev and the other suspect, who was not immediately identified, had been living legally in the U.S. for at least one year. ...

COMPLETE ARTICLE at the following link:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_POLICE_CONVERGE_MASS SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-04-19-07-09-32

Shaw Kenawe said...

And god bless President Obama for his steadfast attention to this issue.

He is carrying out what Ronald Reagan would have approved.

Silverfiddle said...

"He is carrying out what Ronald Reagan would have approved."

That's quite a stretch, but it is heartwarming and encouraging to see liberal bloggers lauding one of out greatest presidents.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Ronald Reagan would be proud of Barack Obama.

His son, Ron Reagan, Jr., supports the president.

Silverfiddle said...

His son, Ron Reagan Jr., is a liberal, so it makes sense that he would support Mr. Obama.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Yes, Ron Reagan, Jr., is a liberal and atheist. The second generation often improves the first.

Silverfiddle said...

:(
Awww... See? You had to go and blow it... ;)

FreeThinke said...

Anyone with a functioning brain and average eyesight can see that Ron Reagan is the sons his parents should ever have had.

Like Christina Crawford, BD Hyman and the children of Carol Burnett, Mary Tyler Moore and Carroll O'Connor who committed suicide, Ron Reagan -- a bitter, sarcastic, sneering, mal-occluded, hag-ridden little man with the soul of a scallop -- offers yet another piece of evidence that raising children is incompatible with the exigencies attendant on Hollywood stardom.

Like all men -- great ones especially - Ronald Reagan made some serious mistakes. Endorsing the Brady Bill was one of them, begetting a son like Ron another.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Free Thinke: "Ron Reagan -- a bitter, sarcastic, sneering, mal-occluded, hag-ridden little man with the soul of a scallop -- "

This is how you define people you disagree with?

I'm afraid it says more about you than it does Ron Reagan, who has never uttered a mean word about you.

I'm disappointed that you find the need to write such gross descriptions of someone who has not hurt you in any way. He just doesn't share your politics or ideology.

You caution others about uttering such things that contribute to the rancor that infects our discourse.

I don't understand why you couldn't just say you don't like Ron Reagan's politics.

He is, by all accounts, a decent man who is devoted to his mother, his sister, his wife and his ideals.

That those ideals don't square with yours is, IMHO, no reason to attack him with such vengeance and vitriol. It doesn't become you.


I think of you as above such things.

FreeThinke said...

Yesterday I posted this opinion of Ronald and Nancy Reagan's son, Ron, to which you took considerable offense:

Anyone with a functioning brain and average eyesight can see that Ron Reagan is the sons his parents should ever have had.

Like Christina Crawford, BD Hyman and the children of Carol Burnett, Mary Tyler Moore and Carroll O'Connor who committed suicide, Ron Reagan -- a bitter, sarcastic, sneering, mal-occluded, hag-ridden little man with the soul of a scallop -- offers yet another piece of evidence that raising children is incompatible with the exigencies attendant on Hollywood stardom.

Like all men -- great ones especially - Ronald Reagan made some serious mistakes. Endorsing the Brady Bill was one of them, begetting a son like Ron another.


You took particular exception to these words:

Ron Reagan -- a bitter, sarcastic, sneering, mal-occluded, hag-ridden little man with the soul of a scallop ...

I bring this up only to say this analysis -- a view I've held for many many years -- was not based on disrespect for Ron's politics, as you averred, but rather on a strong, instinctive distaste for his personality and character as he has revealed it in many appearances on television.

His attitude does appear bitter. He most certainly does express himself in a perpetually sneering, sarcastic manner. It may be unfair to object to it, since it's not his fault, but he mouth certainly is mal-occluded (his teeth are terribly crowded and unattractive in his too-small jaw).

When I say "hag-ridden" I mean he is haunted by dissatisfaction with himself, his inability either to achieve popularity or to equal or exceed the achievements of his father. He has distinguished himself only by his overt distaste for his father and his father’s politics.

It seems obvious that Ron projects this disappointment and dissatisfaction with himself onto his father of whom he seems almost pathologically jealous - OR - maybe he just feels with some justification that Ronald Reagan was so busy being Ronald Reagan he didn’t give enough time to little Ron -- a real possibility with virtually all famous, highly successful parents -- as I amply indicated in my post.

At any rate, Ron Reagan from the many public glimpses we’ve seen is, indeed, a small-minded person focused largely on himself. I don’t like him, but that doesn’t mean I hate him. I see him as rather pathetic, therefore, I feel sorry for him, even though I find it impossible to show much respect for him.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Ron Reagan wrote a book about his father on the 100th anniversary of President Reagan's birth.

From what I read in the reviews, it was certainly not filled with jealousy or dislike of the man. In fact, he very much loved his father. It was Nancy and Ronald Reagan's daughter who was estranged from them for many years, but who eventually reconciled with them. She too, does not share her mother and father's political affiliations.

FreeThinke said...

I had not heard of Ron's book. I'll have to take a look at it.