DELAWARE RESIDENTS JIM AND SARAH BRADY URGE LEGISLATURE, GOVERNOR TO BACK POLICE CHIEFS, REJECT GUN LOBBY CONCEALED WEAPONS BILL
For Immediate Release:
03-16-2006 Contact Communications:
(202) 898-0792
Wilmington, DE - Jim and Sarah Brady, who have spent decades crusading for sensible gun laws, today lashed out against a bill introduced in Delaware that would eliminate the ability of local judges to use discretion in deciding whether potentially dangerous people should be given permits to carry hidden handguns in public. The couple said they will work as hard as they can to defeat the bill.
“Twenty-five years ago this coming March 30, President Reagan and I were totally surrounded by the world’s best-trained law enforcement professionals, yet they were not capable of preventing a man with a concealed handgun from almost killing the President of the United States,” said Jim Brady, President Reagan’s press secretary at the time, who was also seriously wounded. “Putting a concealed handgun inside the jacket of anyone who doesn’t have a felony conviction is reckless public policy.”
“Common sense tells us that loaded, hidden guns don’t belong in large crowds, on crowded buses and in daycare centers,” Sarah Brady said.
Delaware law currently stipulates that Superior Court judges may issue a permit to an individual who is not a felon and meets training requirements, but judges are left discretion to deny a permit if they foresee a problem. Under House Bill 359, judges would be forced to issue a permit to any individual who meets the requirements.
“It’s inherently dangerous to have a loaded, hidden handgun in your pocket, and people should have a valid reason for having one, and a judge should be able to say no if he or she thinks someone’s a slice short of a full loaf,” Jim Brady said.
Gun industry lobbyists argue that the track record shows loose permit regimes are completely safe, but that is simply untrue:
According to the Florida Department of State, Division of Licensing, from April 30, 1997 through January 31, 2000, 1,041 Florida CCW license-holders had their licenses revoked for committing crimes after they received their license.
Texas Department of Public Safety analysis showed that concealed handgun license holders were arrested for a total of 3,370 crimes between January 1, 1996 and April 30, 2000, including very serious violent offenses like murder, rape, sexual assault, and weapons-related crimes. An analysis of the Texas data also reveals that, between 1996 to 1999, Texas CCW permit holders were arrested for weapon-related offenses at a rate that was 66% higher than that of the general population of Texas.
An April 2001 article in the Salt Lake Tribune reported that “scores of Utahns are having their concealed-gun licenses revoked for criminal violations -- including felonies and firearms offenses” since the state began running daily background checks on the state’s concealed-weapons permit holders. In the first year of the daily checks, the state experienced a 241% increase in the number of revocations, with the single biggest reason for license revocations being the fact that the permit holder is wanted on an outstanding warrant.
The Brady Campaign has contacted thousands of Delaware supporters and asked them to contact their state legislators to urge them to oppose the bill.
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As the nation's largest, non-partisan, grassroots organization leading the fight to prevent gun violence, the Brady Campaign, working with its dedicated network of Million Mom March Chapters, is devoted to creating an America free from gun violence, where all Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in our communities.