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Sarah`s Shocking Disclosure

Friday, March 22, 2002

Sarah Brady, Chair of the gun-ban lobby formerly known as HCI, may be in a little trouble with the law. And the reason why is quite surprising. According to the March 22 issue of the Daily News (N.Y.), Brady may have violated the type of gun-control law she and her organization regularly advocate. In her soon-to-be released book, “A Good Fight,” the gun-ban advocate reveals that in 2000, she bought a hunting rifle at a Delaware gun shop for her son, who was 18 at the time. And while Brady carefully describes her experience, and the fact that the store clerk ran the required background check on her, there is no mention of the store also running a background check on her son—a requirement under Delaware state law.

Amy Stillwell, a spokeswoman for the gun-ban lobby that now carries Brady’s name, explained to the Daily News that federal law does not require a background check on the son for this type of gift purchase, which is true. However, Delaware Justice Department spokeswoman Lori Sitler indicated that if Brady did not disclose the rifle was a gift for someone else, providing information for a background check on the recipient, then the purchase may have violated Delaware law. Sitler was quoted as saying, “You can’t purchase a gun for someone else. That would be a ‘straw purchase.’ You’ve got a problem right there.”

This controversy highlights one interesting point. The fact is that there are already so many laws on the books that regulate firearms that even the nation’s foremost advocate of passing more laws may not be able to keep track of what is already on the books. NRA-ILA Executive Director James Jay Baker commented, “We hope that it’s innocuous and there’s been no laws violated.”

Some, no doubt, will be shocked to learn of the firearm purchase by someone like Sarah Brady. NRA-ILA’s Baker observed, “It’s obviously interesting that Sarah would be purchasing firearms of any kind for anybody, given her championing of restrictive guns laws for everyone.” Considering that she and her organization regularly claim that “the safest thing [to do] is not to keep a gun in the home,” one wonders whether her son follows his mother’s advice? Or maybe he simply follows long-established firearm safety and storage practices that keep responsible gun owners and their families perfectly safe when they keep firearms in their homes. And there are also the Brady warnings about “children” and firearms. These gun-ban lobbyists regularly include individuals as old as 19 (and sometimes older) in their statistics for “children.”

There is likely more to come of this story, which we will certainly follow.

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Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.