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COPYRIGHT 1996 by Conservative Consensus, ISSN 1074-245X.

QUOTATION and redistribution are encouraged, for private,
non-commercial use, provided nothing is changed and
our headers and trailers remain intact. V2XC62


SECURITY.................

Brady vs US Constitution

by Jacob J. Rieper

               You couldn't tell by listening to President 
Clinton's and Sarah Brady's speeches at the Democratic convention, 
but the law which bears her name is in serious trouble.  Five 
federal courts have ruled the Brady Law unconstitutional and the 
Supreme Court will hear a lawsuit brought by Arizona Sheriff 
Richard Mack this fall.

               Sheriff Mack's suit makes two arguments.  First, 
that Congress exceeded its Commerce Clause powers by ordering 
State officials to exercise their police powers to affect 
interstate commerce.  While firearms may flow in interstate 
commerce, Sheriff Mack is not a gun dealer and neither engages in 
nor interferes with interstate commerce by refusing to supervise 
Federal Firearms Licensees.  The second argument, a 10th Amendment 
challenge, charges the US government usurps State powers by
ordering State officials directly to perform "reasonable" 
background checks.

               Doctors for Integrity in Policy Research (DIPR), 
Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership (DRGO), and the Lawyers 
Second Amendment Society (LSAS) have filed an amicus brief 
supporting the dismantling of Brady.  Their brief seeks to prove 
no "compelling government interest" exists for resuscitating Brady 
because private ownership of guns is an overwhelming benefit to 
society.  Without exception, all 14 studies of defensive gun use 
suggest that protective uses of guns far outnumber the lives taken 
by guns.  The most comprehensive, Kleck & Gertz's National Self- 
Defense Survey, suggests 2.5 million protective uses by adult 
Americans against human attackers annually.  That conclusion was 
reinforced by Lott & Mustard's study of 15 years' data showing 
that "1,570 murders; 4,177 rapes; and over 60,000 aggravated 
assaults would have been avoided yearly" if states would allow 
law-abiding adults to carry concealed handguns.

               Brady supporters claim tens of thousands of felons 
have been prevented from purchasing handguns because of the law.  
Such claims arise from a GAO survey of 7 state and 13 local law 
enforcement agencies.  With 22 states exempt from Brady in 1994, 
the results of GAO's study cannot be projected to the universe of 
denials nationwide.  Of those who were fingered by Brady checks, 
the survey shows that half of them are not disqualified from gun 
ownership and of those actual criminals identified, gun purchase 
was not prevented; criminals are merely displaced from the legal 
retail market.

               Ignoring these important caveats from their own 
data source, Sarah Brady boldly declared "The Brady Bill was an 
overnight success" and prevented "over 100,000 felons" from 
purchasing handguns.  Such farcical claims are easily dispelled by 
the Brady Law's laughable prosecution record - less than a dozen 
convictions nationwide since its inception.

               When asked what he thought the lawsuit's outcome 
would be, Sheriff Mack's lawyer David Hardy said: "The Court's 
last major 10th Amendment ruling (on nuclear waste disposal) 
struck the federal statute by a 6-3 vote, and this statute is an 
even worse infringement of that amendment.  Nothing is certain in 
law, but I'd consider the probabilities strongly on our side."  
Dr. Edgar Suter, DIPR chairman, cynically agreed: "I expect that 
the court will pay perfunctory obeisance to the 10th and 2nd 
Amendments, but will gut that acknowledgment of any meaningful 
protection of our rights."

              Sorry, Sarah, no "Brady II" for you.
                               ###
=========================
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