o-called cop-killer bullets. The streak was interrupted in 1993, when Clinton stung the NRA by passing the most sweeping gun-control law on the books: the Brady Bill (Spitzer, 1995), named after former White House press secretary James Brady. Brady and his wife, Sarah, became proponents of gun control after Brady was shot and seriously wounded during a 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.The so-called Brady Law, which went into effect in 1994, initially provided a five-day waiting period to allow local law enforcement officials to make sure the purchaser is not disqualified from owning a handgun. The law also established licensing fees. In 1998 a new computerized verification system replaced the five-day waiting period requirement. Under the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), firearms dealers submit the names of potential buyers into the system and can more quickly ascertain whether the sale may proceed (Encarta).Gun-control advocates are already preparing for their next confrontation with the NRA, building a grass-roots network and bringing in more PAC money for lobbying. The goal is to beat the NRA at its own game by mobilizing militant anti-gun votes in 2000. The failure of gun-control legislation isn't about the NRA's massive campaign coffers. It's about a small band of single-issue voters who manage to subvert meaningful public policy. For all the national outrage at the schoolhouse massacres in Littleton, Colo. and elsewhere, the sentiment could not keep gun-control legislation from dying on the House floor. As with so many other issues, majority support does not necessarily lead to action in Congress. How can there be such a disconnect between popular opinion and public policy? Some reformers say the answer is money. Their enemy is the NRA and its campaign cash. Since the Littleton massacre, we have seen a rash of statis...
