30 March 2011 VOA News The United States took time Wednesday to remember the 30th anniversary of the assassination attempt against President Ronald Reagan.
John Hinkley opened fire as the president left a Washington hotel, seriously wounding Mr. Reagan and three others, including former White House Press Secretary James Brady.
Brady was shot in the head and left partially paralyzed. He and his wife Sarah have since become two of the country's strongest voices for tighter gun control laws. The Brady Bill, mandating background checks for gun buyers, is named for the couple.
Brady said at a Washington news conference Wednesday that he would not be sitting in a “damn wheelchair” if there were more of what he called “common sense” gun laws in force.
Mr. Reagan had been in office just 69 days when he was wounded. A Secret Service agent pushed him into a car when the shots rang out. The car headed to the safety of the White House, but then sped to a hospital when Mr. Reagan started coughing up blood.
The president was shot in the left lung near his heart. Witnesses say he walked into the hospital on his own and joked with doctors that he hoped they all were Republicans. It was later revealed that he was much closer to death than what was first reported.
Mr. Reagan quickly recovered from his wounds and returned to the White House 12 days later. He served two full terms before retiring from politics in 1989. He died in 2004.
Would-be assassin John Hinkley said he shot the president to impress movie actress Jodie Foster. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and remains in a Washington psychiatric hospital.
Two other people were shot along with Brady and President Reagan –Washington, D.C. police officer Thomas Delahanty and Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy.
McCarthy tells VOA that the Secret Service changed the way it protects presidents after the Reagan shooting. He says anyone who gets near the president must now pass through metal detectors. McCarthy says there has not been another attack on a U.S. president since that day in March 1981.