Gun control - Seven Days: Is it Enough Time?

Essay by Anonymous UserCollege, UndergraduateB, January 1992

download word file, 4 pages 4.1

Seven Days: Is it Enough Time?

In 1981 President Ronald Reagan was the target of an attempted assassination, which instead hit the press secretary, James Brady, who is now an invalid because of the bullet that entered his head that day. After this tragedy happened, more legislation on gun control came to congress than had ever been attempted before. Among the most publicized of these was the Brady Bill, known by its full name of The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. Prevention Act. Of the many provisions in the Act one has always stood out to me as maybe being able to solve some of the violence in this country. This provision would require that anyone wanting to purchase a pistol or revolver would have to endure a seven-day waiting period before he or she could actually have possession of the handgun. Two good reasons that this provision would work include that the seven days would give time for an identification check to be made on the person wishing to purchase the gun and this amount of time would give anyone angry a 'cooling off' period.

A dark side to this part of the Act is the prevalence of weapons on the black market. Seven days would be more than enough time for the proper identification to be made on the person who wants to buy the weapon. According to the May 25, 1991 issue of America, this bill would require gun dealers to give local police the names, addresses and birth dates of people seeking to buy handguns. The police would be allowed, although not obliged, to check the backgrounds of these potential customers for criminal or mental health records. This means of 'sifting' the prospective gun buyers can and, I believe, will turn away some of the...