FABLE V: It is because of the Brady Act's five-day waiting period and the "assault weapons" law that crime has decreased.
Anti-gun groups and the Clinton-Gore Administration have tried to credit those two laws and, thus, themselves, with the decrease. However, violent crime began declining nationally during 1992,1 and the Brady Act didn't take effect until Feb. 28, 1994, the "assault weapons" law until Sept. 13, 1994.

Crime in America declined for several other reasons. New York City, which accounted for 9% of all violent crimes in the U.S. during 1991, has cut violent crimes by 42%,2 with most of the decrease attributed to the New York City Police Department's widely-acclaimed crackdown on a broad range of crimes and its implementation of new police strategies.3 The incarceration rate has increased 62% nationally since 1991.4 And criminologists note that during the 1990s the U.S. population, and most notably the membership of drug gangs, has aged and become less prone to violence.5

The "assault weapon" law has been irrelevant to the drop in crime. Not only did that law take effect well after the decrease began, "assault weapons" were and are used in only a very small percentage of violent crime.6 "Assault weapons" are still widely available on the commercial market, because of increased production before the federal law ceased their manufacture. Further, the law permits the manufacture of firearms that are identical to "assault weapons" but for one or more essentially cosmetic features.7

The Brady Act's waiting period was never imposed on many high-crime states and cities, but instead was imposed on mostly low-crime states. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia were always exempt from the waiting period,8 because they already had more restrictive gun laws when the Brady Act took effect.9 Those areas account for 60% of all the murders and other violent crimes in the U.S.10 Furthermore, during the five years the waiting period was in effect, more than a dozen other states became "Brady-exempt" as well, by adopting NRA-backed instant check laws or modifying pre-existing purchase regulations.

Even in states where the Brady Act's waiting period was in effect, criminals were not prevented from obtaining handguns. Only 7% of armed career criminals and 7% of "handgun predators" obtain firearms from licensed gun shops.11 Eighty-five percent of police chiefs say that the Brady Act's waiting period did not stop criminals from obtaining handguns.12 According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), handgun purchase denial statistics often cited by President Clinton and Handgun Control, Inc., "do not indicate whether rejected purchasers later obtained a firearm through other means."13

Summarizing the waiting period's failure, New York University Professors James M. Jacobs and Kimberley A. Potter wrote: "It is hard to see the Brady law, heralded by many politicians, the media, and Handgun Control, Inc. as an important step toward keeping handguns out of the hands of dangerous and irresponsible persons, as anything more than a sop to the widespread fear of crime."14

Waiting periods and other laws delaying handgun purchases have never reduced crime. Historically, most states with such laws have had higher violent crime rates than other states, and have been more likely to have violent crime and murder rates higher than national rates. Despite a 15-day waiting period (reduced to 10 days in 1996) and a ban on "assault weapons," California's violent crime and murder rates have averaged 51% and 38% higher than the rest of the country during the 1990s.15 When Congress approved the Brady bill, eight of the 12 states that had violent crime rates higher than the national rate, and nine of the 16 states that had murder rates higher than the national rate, were states that delayed handgun purchases.16

In Brady's first two years, the overall murder rate in states subject to its waiting period compared unfavorably to other states, declining 9% versus 17% in the other states.17 Even anti-gun researcher David McDowell has written that "waiting periods have no influence on either gun homicides or gun suicides."18 And Handgun Control's Sarah Brady has admitted that a waiting period "is not a panacea. It's not going to stop crimes of passion or drug-related crimes."19

The Brady Act waiting period also led to fewer arrests of prohibited purchasers, compared to NRA-backed instant check systems. For example, between November 1989 and August 1998, Virginia's instant check system led to the arrests of 3,380 individuals, including 475 wanted persons.20 The General Accounting Office (GAO) found that during the Brady Act's first 17 months, only seven individuals were convicted of illegal attempts to buy handguns.21 The Dept. of Justice, citing statistics from the Executive Office of United States Attorneys, stated that during Fiscal Years 1994-1997 only 599 individuals were convicted of providing false information on either federal forms 4473 (used to document retail firearms purchases) or Brady handgun purchase application forms.22

The vast majority of persons who applied to buy handguns under the Brady Act's waiting period were law-abiding citizens. The GAO reported that during the Act's first year, 95.2% of handgun purchase applicants were approved without a hitch. Of the denials, nearly half were due to traffic tickets or administrative problems with application forms (including sending forms to the wrong law enforcement agency). Law-abiding citizens were often incorrectly denied as "criminals," because their names or other identifying information were similar to those of criminals, and triggered "false hits" during records checks. GAO noted that denials reported by BATF in its one-year study of the Brady Act, "do not reflect the fact that some of the initially denied applications were subsequently approved, following administrative or other appeal procedures."23

Due to NRA-backed amendments that were made to the Brady bill before its passage in 1993, the Brady Act's waiting period was replaced in November 1998 by the nationwide instant check system.24 However, in June 1998, President Clinton and the anti-gun lobby announced their desire for the waiting period to continue permanently along with the instant check. White House senior advisor Rahm Emanuel falsely claimed on June 14, 1998, that "The five-day waiting period was established for a cooling off period for crimes of passion."25

As the inclusion of its instant check amendment made clear, however, the Brady Act was imposed not for a "cooling off period," but for a records check obstacle to firearm purchases by felons, fugitives and other prohibited persons. Furthermore, during congressional hearings on the Brady bill on Sept. 30, 1993, Assistant Attorney General Eleanor Acheson testified for the Department of Justice that there were no statistics to support claims that handguns were often used in crimes soon after being purchased.26

Emanuel also claimed that, "Based on police research, 20% of the guns purchased that are used in murder are purchased within the week of the murder." But this was an exaggeration typical of anti-gun advocates: BATF reports the average time between the purchase of a gun and its trace in a murder investigation is more than six years.27

The Clinton-Gore Administration and anti-gun groups want the waiting period, because it complicates the process of buying a gun and therefore may dissuade some potential gun buyers. A waiting period also can prevent a person who needs a gun for protection from acquiring one quickly, but Handgun Control opposes the use of firearms for protection, claiming "the only reason for guns in civilian hands is for sporting purposes"28 and self-defense is "not a federally guaranteed constitutional right."29