james brady was a White House press secretary under presidents ronald reagan, george Bush and bill Clinton. he is most well-known because of the law that was named after him, the Brady Bill.

The Bill was implemented on February 28, 1994. This law established a national 5 business day waiting period on handgun purchases through licensed dealers. It also required local authorities to conduct background checks on handgun purchasers. The majority of Democrats voted for this bill and the majority of Republicans voted against it. Bill Clinton signed it into law.

In July of 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for the federal government to require states to perform Brady Bill background checks. At that point, 27 states had laws requiring similar background checks and 23 states did not.

A crime study by John Lott found mixed results regarding the adoption of waiting periods. The data showed no overall beneficial effect on violent crime rates. There are instances where enraged people buy a gun and quickly proceed to commit a crime with it. There are also instances where people attempt to purchase a gun for self protection because they have been threatened, and are murdered during a waiting period.one way to see it is that the Brady Bill was a first attempt to make it less easy for American citizens to purchase a gun. but as nicky wire said: 'the gun laws that Clinton is trying to bring in (...) would disenfranchise the black community, who generally don't have licences. The white rednecks in middle America do have licences, but statistics show they cause as much crime.'