The legacy of former White House press secretary James Brady

Former White House press secretary James Brady gives the thumbs-up while visiting the Brady Briefing Room at the White House March 30, 2011 in Washington, DC. Brady was left confined to a wheelchair in the attempted assassination of US president Ronald Reagan 30 years ago. AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

James Brady, former White House press secretary under President Ronald Reagan, passed away today. He was 73.

"Jim touched the lives of so many and has been a wonderful husband, father, friend and role model," his family said in a statement released today. "We are enormously proud of Jim's remarkable accomplishments -- before he was shot on the fateful day in 1981 while serving at the side of President Ronald Reagan and in the days, months and years that followed.

Brady was shot in the head in an the assassination attempt against President Reagan in 1981 and was left permanently disabled. After the attack, Brady devoted his life to the gun control movement. His namesake legislation, The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, went into effect in 1994 and has made background check on handgun owners a requirement.

Guests:

Adam Winkler, law professor at UCLA and author of "Gun Fight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America" (W. W. Norton & Company, 2011)

John Lott, author of “More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws” (University of Chicago Press, Third Edition, 2010) and President of the Crime Prevention Research Center, a research and education organization dedicated to studying the relationship between laws regulating the ownership or use of guns, crime, and public safety