April 03--Sarah Brady, who successfully battled for tougher gun laws after the near-fatal shooting of her husband, former Reagan White House spokesman James Brady, has died. She was 73.
Her death was announced by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the Washington, D.C-based nonprofit she helped lead for many years.
A self-professed cigarette addict, Brady was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer in early 2000 and given a 15% to 30% chance of surviving five years. She underwent several rounds of chemotherapy, radiation and experimental treatments.
Brady was the chairwoman of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence (formerly Handgun Control Inc.), the nation's largest citizen's lobby for tighter handgun regulation. She and her husband became prominent advocates of gun control after he was shot in the head and partially paralyzed in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Reagan by a mentally deranged assailant, John W. Hinckley Jr.
Jim Brady died at 73 in August 2014. The coroner ruled his death a homicide resulting from the wounds sustained in the shooting.
A full obituary will appear at latimes.com/obits.
elaine.woo@latimes.com
