It is a violation of federal law, punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison, for a felon to possess a firearm. In 1993, the Brady waiting period law was passed, according to supporters, to give police time to conduct background checks on prospective handgun buyers. Since then, Brady law supporters, chief among them President Clinton, claim the law has stopped "hundreds of thousands" of "felons, fugitives and stalkers" from buying firearms.

      However, a new report from the Dept. of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), "Prisoners in 1997," shows, once again, the utter failure of the "Brady law" to take criminals off the streets. The BJS report states that by 1996, there were 7,480 persons in federal prison for weapons violations. Even assuming all 7,480 inmates were imprisoned for breaking the Brady law portion of federal gun laws, then only 4% of the president's "hundreds of thousands" of "felons, fugitives, and stalkers" were punished for breaking the law.

      The Brady waiting period is scheduled to "sunset" later this month. While the NRA enjoyed a recent victory by defeating the Clinton administration's proposed new federal gun tax in the massive spending bill signed on October 22, serious concerns about abuse of the "National Instant Check" or NICS system remain.

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