Brady Campaign

The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and its legislative and grassroots affiliate, the Brady Campaign and its dedicated network of Million Mom March Chapters, is the nation's largest, non-partisan, grassroots organization leading the fight to prevent gun violence.

It is devoted to creating an America free from gun violence, where all Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in their communities.

As the Brady Campaign, it works 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. Through its Million Mom March Chapters, it works locally to educate, remember victims, and pass sensible gun laws, believing that children have the right to grow up in environments free from the threat of gun violence.

As the Brady Center, it works to reform the gun industry by enacting and enforcing sensible regulations to reduce gun violence, including regulations governing the gun industry. In addition, it educates the public about gun violence through litigation, grassroots mobilization, and outreach to affected communities.

It has recently launched its Campaign Against Illegal Guns [1], a landmark multi-year effort to stem the trafficking of guns from licensed gun dealers into the hands of criminals, kids, and other prohibited purchasers. Through this focused effort, it hopes to ensure that the issue of illegal guns becomes a key political issue at the local, state, and federal levels. Guns don't fall from the sky into the hands of criminals. The crime gun market is fed by a small, identifiable group of reckless gun dealers. The Brady Center believes we must stop the flood of illegal guns at its source, the gun dealers who put profit ahead of public safety.

Leadership

James Brady and Sarah Brady have been influential in the movement since at least the mid-80s. Mrs. Brady replaced Pete Shields as chair in 1989. Shields had held the 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 reasonable 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 the United States as a leading gun control advocacy organization, and has helped spearhead gun-control legislation at state and national levels.

Although in 1976, HCI's chairman stated that the long-term goal of the organization was a ban on handgun ownership, the Brady Campaign has since shifted its goals, and no longer promotes a handgun ban.

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 weapon", a provision that critics called arbitrary and symbolic. The ban expired in September 2004. This has since been replaced by a computerized background check system.

Criticism

The Brady Campaign has labeled semi-automatic or self-loading rifles as "assault weapons," raising criticism over the use of an ill-defined term. Additionally, the Campaign has in the past called for a ban of non-existent "plastic guns", and description of hollow-point handgun ammunition as "cop-killers". This information was widely exploited by media outlets, despite the fact that most types of hollow-point ammunition actually penetrate less than conventional jacketed rounds, thus being incapable of penetrating police department-issue Kevlar vests.

Identity confusion

As noted previously, the Brady Campaign was founded in 1974 as the National Council to Control Handguns (NCCH). The organization was re-dubbed the Brady Campaign in part to emphasize that its goal was not to ban handguns, but to promote gun safety. Possibly contributing to confusion about the Campaign's role was the similarly-named National Council to Ban Handguns, subsequently known as the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (and also started in 1974). 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

See also

• List of United States firearms topics
• Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
• The Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition
• Gun politics in the US