WASHINGTON, DC–In the wake of today’s Supreme Court decision to strike down the Brady Law’s background check provisions, the Police Foundation, a private, independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting innovation and improvement in policing, urges law enforcement agencies to continue to conduct these checks on a voluntary basis.

Police Foundation President Hubert Williams said, "The Brady Law works. In its first 28 months, over 186,000 criminals and others prohibited from purchasing handguns were stopped from doing so. Over 130,000 felons were denied handguns: every day 157 felons were stopped from buying handguns because of Brady background checks."

Prior to the enactment of the Brady Law, in 32 states, anyone including convicted felons, domestic abusers, the mentally ill, or juveniles could walk into a gun store, fill out a form, and walk out with a gun.

"For 6 years, America’s law enforcement community worked tirelessly for passage of the Brady Law, and believes that background checks have reduced gun crime in America. It is our hope that law enforcement will continue to employ this important tool in its arsenal against crime and violence," said Williams.

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