Lesson plan

Lesson Plan: Why We Can’t Have a Civil Conversation About Guns

Grades 9-12

In the 1980s, the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan and the shooting of his press secretary, Jim Brady, led to the passage of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, also known as the Brady Bill. It was the first piece of legislation to mandate background checks for gun purchases, and set the stage for further regulation in the 1990s. Decades later, lawmakers and the American public continue a debate over gun control against a backdrop of continued mass shootings.