http://www.apbnews.com/newscenter/breakingnews/2000/11/30/brady1130_01.html
Clinton Seeks to Strengthen Brady Law
Says 'Country Still Too Dangerous for Our Children'
Nov. 30, 2000
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Clinton marked the seventh anniversary of the signing of the Brady gun control law on today with a call to give law enforcement officers even more information about gun buyers who fail background checks.
"This country is still too dangerous for our children. The crime rate is still too high," Clinton said.
Clinton, Attorney General Janet Reno and Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers were joined at the event in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building by former White House press secretary James Brady, who was seriously wounded when he was shot in 1981 in a failed assassination attempt against President Ronald Reagan. He and his wife, Sarah, pushed for the passage of the Brady bill, which required background checks for gun buyers.
To improve enforcement, Clinton said he called on Reno and Summers to start developing a new system to notify state and local law enforcement officials of people who have tried to buy guns illegally. Currently, these officials are notified when felons, fugitives and domestic abusers try to buy guns illegally. The new system would provide law enforcement agencies with information on more categories of individuals who fail background checks.
NRA: We'll wait and see
The National Rifle Association reserved judgment on Clinton's proposal, but worried that it may create an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy without addressing the real problem of lax federal prosecution of those who try to obtain guns illegally.
"Since this is in the early stages, we just have to wait and see what happens," said NRA spokeswoman Kelly Whitley. "But once again, it doesn't do anyone any good to provide a new system, or more money for law enforcement, if the federal government is not willing to prosecute these criminals."
"The Brady Bill has now stopped more than 611,000 felons, fugitives and domestic abusers from buying guns," Clinton said. "Now the opponents of the Brady bill -- who are still alive and well -- said at the time that it would be an enormous burden on hunters and sports shooters and law-abiding citizens and that it wouldn't make much difference.
"But after all these years we now know that nobody's missed a day in the deer woods, nobody's missed a sports-shooting contest and it sure made a difference. It made 611,000 differences. That means more children alive, more police officers alive, more citizens alive -- fewer people wounded like Jim."
Cities crack down
He said more than a dozen new cities will join 38 cities to participate in the Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative to crack down on illegal gun trafficking by tracing all crime guns to their source.
The new cities are: Albuquerque, N.M.; Austin, Texas; Baton Rouge, La.; Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point, N.C.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Long Beach, Anaheim, Stockton and Santa Ana, Calif.; Nashville, Tenn.; Newark, N.J.; Oklahoma City; and Pittsburgh.
Congress urged to fund efforts
Clinton also released the interdiction initiative's 1999 report. It details information on more than 64,000 guns that have been used in crimes, recovered by law enforcement officials in participating cities and submitted to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for tracing.
The report says 43 percent of all crime guns are recovered from young people -- 9 percent from juveniles age 17 and under and 34 percent from youth age 18 to 24.
The president also used the opportunity to push Congress, when it reconvenes next week, to provide resources for 500 ATF agents and inspectors and hundreds more federal, state and local gun prosecutors; close the gun show loophole in the Brady law; require child safety locks on handguns; and stop the importation of large capacity ammunition clips that enable guns already in the United States legally to be altered so they can get around the assault weapons ban.
Clinton Seeks to Strengthen Brady Law
Says 'Country Still Too Dangerous for Our Children'
Nov. 30, 2000
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Clinton marked the seventh anniversary of the signing of the Brady gun control law on today with a call to give law enforcement officers even more information about gun buyers who fail background checks.
"This country is still too dangerous for our children. The crime rate is still too high," Clinton said.
Clinton, Attorney General Janet Reno and Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers were joined at the event in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building by former White House press secretary James Brady, who was seriously wounded when he was shot in 1981 in a failed assassination attempt against President Ronald Reagan. He and his wife, Sarah, pushed for the passage of the Brady bill, which required background checks for gun buyers.
To improve enforcement, Clinton said he called on Reno and Summers to start developing a new system to notify state and local law enforcement officials of people who have tried to buy guns illegally. Currently, these officials are notified when felons, fugitives and domestic abusers try to buy guns illegally. The new system would provide law enforcement agencies with information on more categories of individuals who fail background checks.
NRA: We'll wait and see
The National Rifle Association reserved judgment on Clinton's proposal, but worried that it may create an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy without addressing the real problem of lax federal prosecution of those who try to obtain guns illegally.
"Since this is in the early stages, we just have to wait and see what happens," said NRA spokeswoman Kelly Whitley. "But once again, it doesn't do anyone any good to provide a new system, or more money for law enforcement, if the federal government is not willing to prosecute these criminals."
"The Brady Bill has now stopped more than 611,000 felons, fugitives and domestic abusers from buying guns," Clinton said. "Now the opponents of the Brady bill -- who are still alive and well -- said at the time that it would be an enormous burden on hunters and sports shooters and law-abiding citizens and that it wouldn't make much difference.
"But after all these years we now know that nobody's missed a day in the deer woods, nobody's missed a sports-shooting contest and it sure made a difference. It made 611,000 differences. That means more children alive, more police officers alive, more citizens alive -- fewer people wounded like Jim."
Cities crack down
He said more than a dozen new cities will join 38 cities to participate in the Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative to crack down on illegal gun trafficking by tracing all crime guns to their source.
The new cities are: Albuquerque, N.M.; Austin, Texas; Baton Rouge, La.; Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point, N.C.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Long Beach, Anaheim, Stockton and Santa Ana, Calif.; Nashville, Tenn.; Newark, N.J.; Oklahoma City; and Pittsburgh.
Congress urged to fund efforts
Clinton also released the interdiction initiative's 1999 report. It details information on more than 64,000 guns that have been used in crimes, recovered by law enforcement officials in participating cities and submitted to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for tracing.
The report says 43 percent of all crime guns are recovered from young people -- 9 percent from juveniles age 17 and under and 34 percent from youth age 18 to 24.
The president also used the opportunity to push Congress, when it reconvenes next week, to provide resources for 500 ATF agents and inspectors and hundreds more federal, state and local gun prosecutors; close the gun show loophole in the Brady law; require child safety locks on handguns; and stop the importation of large capacity ammunition clips that enable guns already in the United States legally to be altered so they can get around the assault weapons ban.