‘Freedom at Last!’ Attempted Reagan Assassin John Hinckley, Jr. Freed of Court Supervision

© AP Photo / Barry ThummaU.S. Marshalls escort John Hinckley Jr. as he returns to a marine base via helicopter in Quantico, Va., Aug. 8, 1981
U.S. Marshalls escort John Hinckley Jr. as he returns to a marine base via helicopter in Quantico, Va., Aug. 8, 1981 - Sputnik International, 1920, 15.06.2022
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John Hinckley, Jr., the man who 41 years ago attempted to assassinate then-US President Ronald Reagan, was unconditionally released from all court restrictions on Wednesday.
“After 41 years 2 months and 15 days, FREEDOM AT LAST!!!,” Hinckley tweeted on Wednesday afternoon, the culmination of a judge’s ruling from last September.
Hinckley has been under government supervision since his arrest on March 30, 1981, when he shot Reagan and several other members of his entourage, including Press Secretary James Brady, with a 22-caliber revolver outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC. The president barely survived the attack, requiring surgery to remove the bullet from his lung and stop severe internal bleeding. Three others were also wounded, Brady the most severely, suffering brain damage that slurred his speech and forced him to use a wheelchair.
The assassination attempt was driven by Hinckley’s obsession with actress Jodie Foster, and he believed the attack would impress her enough to romantically woo her. As a result, Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity and confined to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, DC, a mental health facility where he lived until 2016. When Brady died in 2014, his death was ruled a homicide caused by complications of the gunshot wound, but Hinckley was not charged because he was found not liable for the original crime.
U.S. Marshalls escort John Hinckley Jr. as he returns to a marine base via helicopter in Quantico, Va., Aug. 8, 1981 - Sputnik International, 1920, 02.06.2022
Man Who Tried to Kill Reagan in 1981 to Be Granted Unconditional Freedom Mid-June
A 1993 gun control bill signed into law by then-US President Bill Clinton was dubbed the “Brady Bill” and introduced a five-day waiting period and background check requirement for prospective buyers of handguns. Had the rules been in place in 1980, Hinckley would not have been able to buy the gun he later used in the shooting.
He was allowed to move out of St. Elizabeth’s and into his mother’s house in 2016, the culmination of several years of progressively more liberal allowances for periods of travel, but was still required to live under strict observation. Two years later, he was allowed to move out of her house and live on his own, and in September 2021, US District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman in Washington, DC, ruled he could be freed of all restrictions in June 2022.
Two weeks ago, Friedman gave the final go-ahead for Hinckley’s release, noting that he had shown no signs of active mental illness since the mid-1980s and has shown neither violent behavior nor interest in weapons since the 1981 shooting.
An avid guitar player and artist, Hinckley had been scheduled to perform what he called a “redemption tour” following his release, but the Market Hotel in Brooklyn, New York, where he was due to take the stage in July, canceled the show on Wednesday.
In a statement posted on Instagram, the hotel said it took no issue with Hinckley’s path of redemption and doesn’t believe him to be a threat, but worried that the anger provoked by his performance there could expose attendees to violence.
"There was a time when a place could host a thing like this, maybe a little offensive, and the reaction would be ‘it’s just a guy playing a show, who does it hurt - it’s a free country,’ ” the venue wrote. “We aren’t living in that kind of free country anymore, for better or for worse.”
Several shocking mass shootings in recent weeks have put the topic of gun violence and gun control at the forefront of US politics once again, with renewed calls for the government to take action, including expanding access to mental health services and restricting the ease with which one can purchase a firearm in the US.
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