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1998 ended on an optimistic note: efforts to reduce and prevent gun deaths and injuries are working. New reports indicate that gun violence continues to decline in the U.S. and that the nation's gun laws have a real effect on the availability and criminal use of firearms.

-- According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, since implementation of the Brady Law in February 1994, background checks on handgun purchasers have prevented 242,000 prohibited purchasers from buying a gun from licensed gun dealers.

-- The FBI's 1997 Uniform Crime Report shows crimes with guns decreasing faster than violent crime overall. Compared to 1994, criminals in 1997 were less likely to use a firearm in the commission of a crime. Overall, the number of all violent crimes since 1994 has fallen 14 percent while the number of violent crimes committed with a firearm since 1994 has fallen 25 percent.

-- On Dec. 31, 1998, the New York Daily News reported that gun deaths have dropped in New York City from more than 1,500 in 1992 to their lowest level since 1963. New York has some of the strictest gun licensing laws in the nation and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has attributed his city's drop in crime directly to that city's gun control laws. New York Police Commissioner Howard Safir agrees, and supports even stricter laws including one limiting handgun purchases to one a month.

-- On Dec. 29, 1998, the Washington Post reported that gun deaths in the District of Columbia have also dropped dramatically. According to the report, "police officials attribute the latest decline in homicides to, among other things, the increasing difficulty of purchasing guns in Maryland and Virginia." Both states have passed anti-gun trafficking laws which limit handguns sales to one per person per month. Such laws greatly reduce "straw purchases," in which an individual who may legally purchase a firearm is hired to purchase firearms for an individual who is either prohibited by law from making the purchase (i.e. felons and minors) or does not want to be traced.

-- One-Gun-A-Month laws work. Virginia passed a law limiting handgun purchases to one per person per month in 1993. A 1995 study showed that in the first year alone, Virginia's law has greatly reduced the number of crime guns recovered in other states that were purchased in Virginia. Maryland passed its one-gun-a-month law in 1996. One year after enactment, the number of Maryland multiple-sale guns turning up at crime scenes in Washington, D.C., dropped from 23 to zero, and from 26 to four in Baltimore.

"This dramatic decrease in gun violence debunks the gun lobby's myth that gun control doesn't work," said Sarah Brady, chair of Handgun Control Inc. "Common sense laws can and have worked. The gun lobby claims that 'an armed society is a polite society,' when, in fact, the opposite is true. These reports show that fewer guns on our streets means less crime and less violence.

"While we are grateful for this news, we know that more can and must be done," Mrs. Brady continued. "We have eliminated a number of sources for crime guns but loopholes still exist which allow criminals to "lie and buy." We need to institute a national one-gun-a-month law to reduce gun trafficking to criminals even further. We need to close the gun show loophole which allows so-called "private collectors" at gun shows to sell their wares to anyone without doing a criminal background check.

"We also need to reinstate the Brady Law's waiting period which expired on November 30, 1998. A waiting period gives local law enforcement time to conduct a thorough background check and acts as a "cooling-off" period for gun purchasers considering crimes of passion or impulse suicides. And as always, those who violate gun laws and commit gun crimes must be prosecuted.

"Much work remains to be done, but I am proud of the progress we have made. As we begin a new year, I look forward to working with law enforcement, elected officials, the medical community, religious leaders and others to continue to reduce gun violence in this great nation."

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Handgun Control Inc. chaired by Sarah Brady, is the nation's largest citizens' gun control lobbying organization. Based in Washington, D.C., HCI works to enact stronger federal, state and local gun control laws, but does not seek to ban handguns. Founded in 1974, HCI has more than 400,000 members nationwide and works with local groups around the country to enact and protect reasonable gun control laws. More information about HCI and its affiliated organization, the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, can be found on the website at www.handguncontrol.org.

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