James Brady and the Fallacy of Good Guys With Guns

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http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-08-04/james-brady-and-the-fallacy-of-good-guys-with-guns


HE'LL WIN. EVENTUALLY. PHOTOGRAPHER: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Good guys with guns abounded on March 30, 1981, mere months into Ronald Reagan's presidency, as Reagan exited the Washington Hilton. The space was thick with police and Secret Service agents, all of them alert, armed and well-trained. Altogether they were no match for a lone goofball with a gun.

Indeed, it's a testament to John Hinckley Jr.'s consummate lack of skill that, in attempting to kill Reagan, the first shot he fired put a hole in the head of Reagan's press secretary, James Brady. Five wild shots later, Hinckley finally hit Reagan -- on a ricochet off the presidential limousine.

Hinckley understood the power of a gun even if he hadn't bothered to master it. In one chaotic burst of rage, a mentally unstable loner got the best of a phalanx of professionally trained police and special agents. Good guys with guns will rarely be a match for a single opponent armed with the element of surprise.

Brady survived the shooting but, unlike Reagan, never recovered. He spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair, with impaired functioning and speech. Along the way, he and his wife, Sarah, became a driving force, and for a time the public face, of the campaign for gun regulations. He died today.