March 30, 1981 is day seared into the American memory.

Twenty-eight years ago, a mentally disturbed gunman shot four people outside the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC, including President Ronald Reagan, Secret Service Agent Timothy McCarthy, District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty, and President Reagan’s Press Secretary, James S. Brady.

Thankfully, all four survived the attack.

While the public was not immediately aware of the severity of President Reagan’s injuries, they would later learn that he had lost three pints of blood after a bullet had lodged an inch from the President’s heart. Jim’s injury, however – a gunshot wound to the head – was more apparent as he lay sprawled on the sidewalk alongside Agent McCarthy and Officer Delahanty.

Sarah Brady, Jim’s wife, has helped carry the burden of her husband’s wounds every day since then. In the process, though tragedy changed their lives forever, together Jim and Sarah changed America for the better.

Because of their dogged determination, and with the support of President Reagan and millions of American families, the Brady Law was enacted under President Bill Clinton’s signature 13 years after Jim and the President were shot.

The Brady Law requires criminal and mental health background checks for gun purchasers at Federally licensed gun dealers. Since the law took effect in 1994, over 1.6 million dangerous people have been denied gun purchases at the point of sale.

As President Clinton said, “How many people are alive today because of Jim and Sarah Brady? How many? Countless.”