BRADY CAMPAIGN

The 'Brady Campaign' or 'The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence' or 'The Brady Campaign united with the Million Mom March' was founded in 1974 as 'The National Council to Control Handguns (NCCH)' by Dr. Mark Borinsky, a victim of gun violence.^[1] The NCCH was re-named 'Handgun Control, Inc.' from 1980 until 2001 . On June 14, 2001, Handgun Control, Inc. was renamed the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. 'The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence' has always been, and still is, a political lobbying group promoting the cause of gun control.
Some critics claim that the Brady Campaign has been ineffective since the Democratic Party lost control of Congress in January 1995. Since then the "assault weapons" ban has been allowed to expire; legislation protecting gun manufacturers and dealers against lawsuits by crime victims has been enacted in Congress and in several States; and the pro-gun opinions of former senator John Ashcroft were no impediment to his confirmation as Attorney General in 2001.
The affiliated Million Mom March (Although it was more like the 2 dozen mom march), started as one of the largest marches on Washington, is now a national network of 75 Chapters around the U.S. that lobby against against gun violence. The Million Mom March was additionally supported by the League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political advocacy organization that does take positions on many political issues.^[2]
The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence is a sister organization that was also spun out of 'Handgun Control, Inc.' on June 14, 2001. It is a registered not-for-profit organization which focuses on education and litigation and not political lobbying.

Contents

Leadership

Stated Mission

Past Efforts and Actions

Identity confusion

Further reading

See also

References

External links

Leadership

James Brady and his wife, Sarah, have been influential in the organization since at least the mid-80s.
Sarah Brady became the Chair of Handgun Control, Inc. in 1989 , replacing Pete Shields, who had held that position since 1978.
From 2000 to May 2006 former Maryland Congressman Michael D. Barnes was the president of the Brady Campaign. He was succeeded by former Fort Wayne, Indiana mayor Paul Helmke.

Stated Mission

As stated on the Brady Campaign's website, "we work to enact and enforce sensible gun laws, regulations, and public policies through grassroots activism, electing public officials who support gun laws, and increasing public awareness of gun violence." The Brady Campaign is recognized in this country as a leading gun control advocacy organization, and have helped spearhead gun-control legislation at state and national levels.

Past Efforts and Actions

The Brady Campaign was the chief supporter of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, known as the "Brady Bill", enacted in 1993 after several years of debate; and successfully lobbied for passage of the first-ever Federal assault weapons ban, banning the manufacture and importation of so-called military-style "assault weapons", a provision that gun-rights critics called arbitrary and symbolic. This has since been replaced by a computerized background check system.
The Brady Campaign has come in for severe criticism from both gun-owners groups (such as the NRA) and non-aligned parties, due to its frequent use of inaccurate information and unsourced data regarding firearms and ammunition.
Many so-called "pro-gun" groups have protested at what they see as the demonisation of a sport through disinformation and unfounded hysteria.
Some of the more famous examples include the labelling of semi-automatic or self-loading rifles as "assault weapons", calling for the ban of non-existent "plastic guns"^[3][4], and description of hollow-point handgun ammunition as "cop-killers".
This information was widely exploited by media outlets, despite the fact that assault weapons ''by definition'' must be derivative of similar fully-automatic rifles, and most types of hollow-point ammunition actually penetrate ''less'' than conventional jacketed rounds, thus being incapable of defeating police department-issue Kevlar vests.
The Glock story illustrated the lack of understanding and research on the part of many anti-gun campaigners: they claimed the Glock series of polymer-framed handguns, launched in the US in the early 1980s, was capable of passing through airport metal detectors, and thus could be used by terrorists. This was despite some 80% of the pistols mass (slide, barrel, ammunition and internal components) being composed of metal. Also, the pressures generated by even relatively weak, low-calibre rounds (such as the .22LR) would be sufficient to rupture and potentially destroy a weapon constructed from plastics or other composite materials, causing severe injury to the would-be shooter.

Identity confusion

As noted previously, the 'Brady Campaign' was founded in 1974 as 'The National Council to Control Handguns (NCCH)'. Unfortunately, this name was often confused with the similarly-named "The National Council to Ban Handguns", subsequently known as "The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence" also started in 1974.^[5][6] These two organizations, 'The National Council to Control Handguns (NCCH)' and "The National Council to Ban Handguns" were entirely separate organizations.

Further reading

★ "A Reporter At Large: Handguns," The New Yorker, July 26, 1976, pp. 57-58

★ "First Reports Evaluating the Effectiveness of Strategies for Preventing Violence: Firearms Laws" The CDC, October 3, 2003^[7]

See also

★ Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence

★ List of United States firearms topics

★ Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

★ The Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition

References

http://www.thehighroad.org
1. The Brady Campaign - press releases
2. The League of Women Voters - Gun control
3. Kennedy, Michael Plastic Guns: New Weapons For Terrorists?, Toronto Star, May 8, 1988, at
B6.
4. Ruhl, Jesse Matthew; Rizer, Arthur L. III; Wier, Mikel J. Gun Control: Targeting Rationality in a Loaded Debate, The Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy, Volume XIII Number III http://www.law.ku.edu/journal/articles/v13n3/ruhl.pdf
5. National Review - Taking aim at the constitution
6. THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS - Report of The Subcommittee On The Constitution Of The Committee On The Judiciary United States Senate Ninety-Seventh Congress - Second Session
7. ''First Reports Evaluating the Effectiveness of Strategies for Preventing Violence: Firearms Laws'',Robert A. Hahn, Ph.D.; Oleg O. Bilukha, M.D., Ph.D.; Alex Crosby, M.D.; Mindy Thompson Fullilove, M.D.; Akiva Liberman, Ph.D.; Eve K. Moscicki, Sc.D.; Susan Snyder, Ph.D.; Farris Tuma, Sc.D.; Peter Briss, M.D.

External links

★ 'The Brady Campaign' to Prevent Gun Violence - official website

★ Annual State Report Cards - Brady Campaign rating state's leaders laws and policies that promote a reduction in gun violence