The perpetrator, John Hinckley, was insanely obsessed with Jodie Foster after seeing her in the movie "Taxi Driver," where the main character tries to assassinate a presidential candidate in order to protect Foster's character. After repeatedly sending notes and calling the actor, who turned down his proposals, Hinckley saw the assassination of a president as a way to get close to Foster. Hinckley planned to kill President Jimmy Carter, but was arrested with an illegal firearm long before he could confront Carter. With Reagan as a rising presidential candidate, Hinckley saw another opportunity to "protect" Foster. Now the newly appointed President of the US, Hinckley waited for Reagan to leave a speaking address at the Washington Hilton Hotel. Hinckley planned to take the shot when Reagan was transitioning from the interior of the Hotel to his bulletproof limousine. The Secret Service made the mistake to allow any pedestrians to stand 15 feet from the president as Reagan exited the hotel.
Hinckley saw Reagan walk near him and shot his revolver six times. The first 2 bullets struck the individuals around Reagan as they shielded him. The 3rd overshot the group while the 4th hit McCarthy as he shielded Reagan. The 5th bullet hit the limousine but the 6th ricocheted off the car and hit Reagan in the chest, puncturing his lung and stopped less than an inch from his heart.
Reagan was saved by his team's decision to go to the hospital instead of the White House, and a hasty surgery allowed for a routine recovery of 2 weeks. When Reagan returned to the White House, his popularity soared with an approval rating of 73%. The shooting opened up the debate about gun control, and Reagan flipped his opinion on the issue, supporting the Brady Act, which fought for increased gun control and prevention of gun violence.
Did Reagan's assassination shape the laws of gun control we have today?
Sources:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ronald-reagan-is-shot-by-john-hinckley-jr
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_assassination_of_Ronald_Reagan
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/10/01/how-assassination-attempt-changed-ronald-reagans-presidency-and-history.html
http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/attempted-assassination-reagan-1981/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hinckley_Jr.
This is pretty interesting - I didn't know that the reason for the perpetrator's assassination attempt was because of a Jodie Foster obsession. It's pretty clear that the attempt shook up Reagan, as evidenced by his stance flip on gun control. As for your question, it seems that even today, almost 40 years later, there hasn't been much progress made on gun control laws despite various assassinations and assassination attempts on the President. I don't think the laws of gun control today are too radically different from the laws that were implemented at that time. Why is that, and what circumstances in America have prevented any significant progress?
ReplyDeleteI also thought that that was pretty interesting how he wanted to kill the president just to be closer to this character. You also know that he wasn't necessarily a repeated offender because he was so close to Reagan yet it took 6 shots to finally hit him and even then it was a ricochet of the car.
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