Has the Brady Bill Helped Reduced Violent Crime?
There are politicians and gun control proponents who claim the Brady Act was a factor in producing the visible drop in homicide and violent crime of the last several years (for a display of homicide rates, see chart). For example Bill Clinton said: “I would close the gun show loophole, because the Brady bill has worked superbly. Its given us a 35 percent drop in gun crime and a 31 year low in the homicide rate, and kept a half a million people felons, fugitives, stalkers, from getting handguns.” (April 12, 2000, NBCs Tom Brokaw discusses gun control with the president) And Sarah Brady, Chairwoman of Handgun Control Inc., claimed: “The new FBI report demonstrates that the significant drop in the homicide rate last year is clearly linked to new efforts at gun tracing by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), the Brady Law, and state anti-gun trafficking initiatives such as Virginia’s one-gun-a-month law.” (Oct. 18, 1999 U.S. Newswire). The first part of Sarah Brady’s statemen
