ng period has also been dubbed a Acooling-off period@. Theoretically if a person goes into a gun store with the intention of doing harm to another, after five days the person may have cooled down or may have had enough time to rationalize their actions. A popular political cartoonist drew a cartoon that appeared all over the nation while the Brady Bill was still in heated debate. A frenzied man is standing at a gun counter screaming... AFive days!...But I=m mad NOW!@.Since the Brady Bill became law in 1994 crimes with firearms are dropping at a steady rate, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Report. A recent Bureau of Justice Statistics report estimates that since the enactment of the Brady Law 173,000 gun transactions were not completed because background checks revealed that the buyers were not allowed to take possession of firearms. Perhaps even more significant is how the Brady Act disrupts interstate gun trafficking. Interstate gun trafficking occurs in part because of the disparity in state laws governing the sale of firearms. The illegal price of firearms in places with more restrictive laws is much more significant than the price of the same gun in a state where the laws are less stringent. The lack of control over the retail sale of handguns in some states makes it possible for those who are willing to engage in illegal trafficking over state lines to profit from price differences. The provisions of the Brady Act now require that gun dealers notify the Chief Law Enforcement Officer in the purchaser=s residence of the sale. During the waiting period the officer can not only check background information, but track through serial numbers were the gun originated to discover if it was carried illegally across state lines and even use this information to trace gun trafficking patterns.Recent tragedies played out in the media have brought gun control back to the forefront. These cases offer the perfect ammunition against g...
