Brady Bill Outline
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 …show more content…
However, the threat of the unsatisfied GOP opponents to block the bill led to an agreement between the Majority Leader Mitchell and the Minority Leader
Dole. Under this agreement, the two leaders was to offer a substitute, and the
Senate would then vote on the House-passed version of the Brady bill (HR 1025) with the text of the substitute inserted in lieu thereof. The Mitchell-Dole substitute included two new provisions: the sunset provision and the preemption provision, both of which had been sought by the NRA. The sunset provision was identical to the Gekas amendment passed by the House which would end the waiting period five years, and the preemption provision was the same as the McCollum amendment rejected by the House. At the beginning of the debate on November 19, Mitchell made it clear that he had agreed to cosponsor this bipartisan compromise as a procedural means to move the long-debated Brady bill through the Senate. The Majority Leader then declared that he would now move on to eliminate those two provisions with which he totally disagreed. The Mitchell-Dole agreement provided, however, …show more content…
The other amendment proposed by Metzenbaum to strike the sunset provision, however, was defeated 43 -56. The Senate then moved on to the consideration of the Mitchell-Dole substitute with one provision thus amended. Throughout the debate, the proponents spoke fervently in support of the bill. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) argued that it was time to take action against the epidemic of gun violence in the country, showing shocking statistics which demonstrated the increasing number of gun-related crimes and deaths. He claimed that the waiting period would not only curb the spread of guns by keeping the lethal weapons out of the hands of convicted felons, but it would also reduce the crimes committed in the heat of the moment by providing a cooling off period. Senators whose States had already adopted waiting periods demonstrated with data that the waiting period had already been proven to work in stopping a significant number of handgun purchases by convicted felons.
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) showed that her State's 15-day waiting period stopped
8,060 convicted felons, 1859 drug users, 827 people with mental illnesses
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 …show more content…
However, the threat of the unsatisfied GOP opponents to block the bill led to an agreement between the Majority Leader Mitchell and the Minority Leader
Dole. Under this agreement, the two leaders was to offer a substitute, and the
Senate would then vote on the House-passed version of the Brady bill (HR 1025) with the text of the substitute inserted in lieu thereof. The Mitchell-Dole substitute included two new provisions: the sunset provision and the preemption provision, both of which had been sought by the NRA. The sunset provision was identical to the Gekas amendment passed by the House which would end the waiting period five years, and the preemption provision was the same as the McCollum amendment rejected by the House. At the beginning of the debate on November 19, Mitchell made it clear that he had agreed to cosponsor this bipartisan compromise as a procedural means to move the long-debated Brady bill through the Senate. The Majority Leader then declared that he would now move on to eliminate those two provisions with which he totally disagreed. The Mitchell-Dole agreement provided, however, …show more content…
The other amendment proposed by Metzenbaum to strike the sunset provision, however, was defeated 43 -56. The Senate then moved on to the consideration of the Mitchell-Dole substitute with one provision thus amended. Throughout the debate, the proponents spoke fervently in support of the bill. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) argued that it was time to take action against the epidemic of gun violence in the country, showing shocking statistics which demonstrated the increasing number of gun-related crimes and deaths. He claimed that the waiting period would not only curb the spread of guns by keeping the lethal weapons out of the hands of convicted felons, but it would also reduce the crimes committed in the heat of the moment by providing a cooling off period. Senators whose States had already adopted waiting periods demonstrated with data that the waiting period had already been proven to work in stopping a significant number of handgun purchases by convicted felons.
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) showed that her State's 15-day waiting period stopped
8,060 convicted felons, 1859 drug users, 827 people with mental illnesses