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Jewish World Review / June 23, 1998 / 29 Sivan, 5758
Roger Simon
WASHINGTON -- With a great deal of pride, the Justice Department announced this
week that an estimated 69,000 handgun sales were blocked last year because of
background checks.
Background checks are mandatory under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act,
which is named for James Brady, Ronald Reagan's press secretary, who was shot and
disabled by John Hinckley in an assassination attempt on Reagan.
Because the Brady background checks take a few days, this also means that a person
who wants to buy a gun in a fit of rage on his lunch hour and then shoot his boss has a
chance to cool down before he can get a handgun.
"About 62 percent of last year's rejections were based on a prior felony conviction or a
current felony indictment," the Justice Department announced. "Eleven percent were
based on domestic violence misdemeanor convictions or restraining orders, and 6
percent were because the applicant was a fugitive from justice."
Yahoos like Charlton Heston of the National Rifle Association are spending huge sums
of money to encourage widespread gun ownership, while, as the Brady law shows, we
ought to be taking even more careful steps to keep guns out of the hands of felons and
fugitives.
Since the Brady Act became law in February 1994, there have been an estimated
242,000 purchases prevented by background checks, which means an awful lot of bad
people were prevented from getting guns to carry out their criminal enterprises.
"Before the Brady bill passed in 1993, guns were sold on the honor system," said Eric
E. Sterling, president of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation. "If you were a
convicted felon or mentally deranged, you were expected to check the box on a form
so the dealers wouldn't sell to you. The Brady bill ended the honor system for selling
guns to criminals, drug addicts, the deranged and fugitives from justice. That's common
sense."
And it is common sense supported by most Americans. One of Bill Clinton's major
accomplishments has been changing handgun control from a left-wing issue to a
mainstream issue.
Clinton has been in the forefront of gun control and has carefully built widespread
support among those people who suffer most from handgun abuse: cops.
At virtually every gun control event he speaks at, Clinton is joined on the stage by
scores of law enforcement officers who want to keep guns out of the hands of bad
guys.
Clinton made gun control a very big issue in his re-election campaign in 1996,
supporting not only strengthening the Brady Act but also banning assault rifles and
cop-killer bullets.
Which is why it was more than a little strange to walk onto the South Lawn of the White
House last Friday night and fire a machine gun.
I did it with deadly accuracy, by the way, and without regret.
And when I was done, the woman behind the counter asked me what I wanted as my
prize.
That one, I said, pointing to a large, yellow and purple, four-armed, two-legged
creature that was inexplicably sporting a small red sombrero.
"Sure," she said, sounding a little relieved that she could get rid of it. Most of the other
winners seemed to be favoring the white gorillas with red boxing gloves.
This was the picnic thrown by the Clintons for the press (which was paid for with
private funds, not tax dollars). The last time they had such a picnic was two years ago,
and it consisted of a bunch of tables out on the lawn.
This year, somebody on the White House staff decided to go big time.
It was dubbed an "Old Fashioned Fair," and there was the largest tent I have ever
seen, food, drinks, a band and a very elaborate mix of rides and carnival booths where
you could win prizes like stuffed yellow and purple creatures and boxing gorillas.
The irony, quickly noted by just about everybody, was that while some of the booths
featured such tests of skill as getting a small basketball in a small hoop, many of the
booths featured guns.
There were machine guns like the one I used that shot BBs, and there were guns that
shot rubber balls, and there were even crossbows that shot real darts.
All the guns and other weapons were chained down so that you could only point them
at the targets, but it was still a little weird to be firing a machine gun on the president's
back lawn.
As I have admitted before, I was a teenage head case in that I was a dues-paying
member of the NRA while in high school and, if I do say so myself, a terrific shot.
Which is why to this day I think that target shooting is a fine and fun sport.
I think shooting at animals for sport, on the other hand, is sick and keeping a gun in the
home is dangerous and far more likely to be used to kill you or a loved one than a
criminal.
Having said all that, I am still a terrific shot, and when my wife challenged me to back it
up with a BB-shooting machine gun, I was happy to oblige.
Reporters lined up to shoot the guns, though they were interrupted at one point.
When Bill Clinton decided to wander around the booths and the rides, his aides told
everybody they had to stop shooting. There was no chance the president could be hurt
by any of the shooting, but the aides didn't think it was good symbolism for reporters to
be firing away while the president was walking around.
The target I shot at to win my creature had a little red star instead of a bull's eye, and
next year, if they change the star to a little figure of a special prosecutor, I bet the
president would sit down and happily shoot BBs all
There's a good reason
Bubba wants gun-control...
There is no way of knowing how many lives the Brady law saves because of this, but
we do know that an awful lot of bad people are prevented from getting handguns.
Is "Moses" little more
than a well-heeled yahoo?
