Resources for Teachers and Students on Sarah and James
Brady
Prepare: The Brady family's activism on the issue
of gun violence was precipitated by wounds James Brady received
during the Regan assassination attempt. The Brady Center
to Prevent Gun Violence, located in Washington, D.C., is
the largest non-partisan, grassroots organization dedicated
to creating an America free of gun violence. The center
provides biographies of Jim
Brady and Sarah
Brady.
Read:
Sarah Brady wrote an
original essay for the Architects of Peace project.
In it, she outlines the rationale that led to her involvement
in the gun-control movement.
Explore: The gun-control debate in the United States
often becomes such a partisan, emotion-laden issue that
it is difficult to identify impartial statistics regarding
the true problem of gun violence. One of the better sources
of such information is the Bureau
of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Their most current statistics regarding the use of firearms
in the commission of crimes can be found on their website.
Write: The key rhetorical element of Sarah Brady's
Architects of Peace essay is the statement: "If guns
made us safer, as the powerful gun lobby likes to argue,
then we'd already be the safest country in the world."
How should concerns regarding safety be related to the process
of seeking peace? Does disarmament play a different role
in international relations than in intra-national relations?
Write a two-to-three page reflection paper dealing with
these questions.
Extend: The NRAblacklist.com publicizes a list of
celebrities and organizations who are on an alleged "blacklist"
of anti-gun advocates maintained by the National Rifle Association.
Celebrities reportedly included on this list include Jerry
Seinfeld, Britney Spears, Julia Child, Oprah Winfrey and
Mary Tyler Moore. Agencies include the NAACP, the American
Medical Association, and the League of Women Voters. People
wanting to "join" this list can do so at the NRA
website. The actual NRA
fact sheet can also be viewed online.
Additional Resource: According to the National
Center for Health Statistics of the Center for Disease
Control, a greater number of gun deaths that occur in the
United States each year are suicides, rather than homicides.
To find the most recent statistics in this regard, please
visit their website and search under "firearm mortality."
Biography of Sarah
and James Brady
