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The Brady Bill
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The Brady Bill
Introduction The legislative process in the United States Congress shows us an interesting drama in which a bill becomes a law through compromises made by diverse and sometimes conflicting interests in this country. There have been many controversial bills passed by Congress, but among all, I have taken a particular interest in the passage of the Brady bill. When the Brady debate was in full swing in Congress about three years ago, I was still back in my country, Japan, where the possession of guns is strictly restricted by laws. While watching television news reports on the Brady debate, I wondered what was making it so hard for this gun control bill to pass in this gun violence ridden country. In this paper, I will trace the bill's seven year history in Congress, which I hope will reveal how partisan politics played a crucial role in the Brady bill's passage in this policy making branch. The Brady bill took its name from Jim Brady, the former press secretary of President Reagan, who was shot in the head and partially paralyzed in the assassination attempt on the president in 1981. This bill was about a waiting period on handgun purchases allowing police to check the backgrounds of the prospective buyers to make sure that guns are not sold to convicted felons or to those who are mentally unstable. Even the proponents of the bill agreed that the effect of the bill on curbing the gun violence might be minimal considering the fact that the majority of gu...
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