The Brady Law was passed in February of 1994 in the name of James Brady, who was President Reagan‘s press secretary who was severely wounded by a bullet in the assassination attempt of Reagan in 1981. Since the enactment of the Brady Law, violent crimes committed with firearms have greatly reduced. In fact, from 1985 all the way up through 1993 the use of guns in crime was at an all time high. It was until the Brady Act was passed that the use of firearms in crimes decreased. Today the Brady Act continues to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals. The Brady Handgun Violence Act of 1994 is a federal law requiring that all prospective purchasers of firearms be approved through what is known as “an instant background check.” The instant background check is performed by licensed gun dealers using a telephone or a computer through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which is also referred to as (NICS). Also not to mention, federally licensed firearms importers, manufacturers, and dealers must comply with permanent Brady before the transfer of any firearm to a non-licensed individual occurs. (www.atf.treas.gov/firearms/bradylaw/)The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and firearms (ATF) regulates that accordingly with the Brady Act, a licensed dealer may sell a firearm if and only if the buyer has a valid government issued form of picture identification. The form of identification must contain the purchaser’s name, full address including the state of residence, age, gender, and race. In many cases second forms of identification are asked for.NICS is not operated and ran by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. It is run by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). All NICS checks however, do not run through the FBI’s NICS operations center. Some states have their own laws regarding these checks. In this case they have different regulations when it comes to an individual purc...
