PAST ARTICLES AND EDITORIAL BOARDS The Tenth Amendment Shoots Down the Brady Act
Dyan Finguerra
3 J.L. & Pol'y 637 (1995)
In 1993, President Bill Clinton enacted the Brady Handgun Violence Protection Act ("Brady Act") into law which institutes a five-day waiting period for the purchase of a handgun. According to the terms of the Brady Act, local officials must "make a reasonable effort to ascertain within five business days whether receipt or possession would be in violation of the law, including research in whatever State and local recordkeeping systems are available and in a national system designated by the Attorney General." It is this congressional mandate to local authorities that has created legal controversy.

This Note argues that the Brady Act infringes upon state sovereignty that is guaranteed by the Tenth Amendment. This Note presents the pertinent provisions of the Brady Act and then argues that the Act violates the Tenth Amendment by requiring local authorities to perform duties that are not required of them by their state governments. As of the writing of the Note, five federal district courts have addressed the issue of whether the Brady Act violates the Tenth Amendment. Four out of five courts have determined that portions of the Brady Act violate state sovereignty; this Note examines these cases and their holdings before concluding that the Brady Act is unconstitutional.