During a White House ceremony attended by James S. Brady (left) President
Bill Clinton signed the Brady handgun-control bill into law. The law requires
a prospective handgun buyer to wait five business days while the authorities
check on his or her background, during which time the sale is approved or
prohibited based on an established set of criteria.

In 1981, James Brady, who served as press secretary for President Ronald
Reagan, was shot in the head by John Hinckley, Jr., during an attempt on
President Reagan’s life outside a hotel in Washington, D.C. Reagan himself
was shot in his left lung but recovered and returned to the White House
within two weeks. Brady, the most seriously injured in the attack, was
momentarily pronounced dead at the hospital but survived and began an impressive recovery from his debilitating brain injury.

President Ronald Reagan (center) moments before he was shot in an assassination attempt, March 30, 1981.

JOHN BELMONT

The first airplane flight over the South Pole was made by U.S. Navy Lt. Comdr. Richard E. Byrd on this day in 1929.

Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr.
(October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957)

A 1930 documentary film about Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd 
and his 1st quest to the South Pole.          

Ferdinand Magellan (1480 – April 27, 1521) 

After sailing through the dangerous straits below South America that now
bear his name, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan entered  the Pacific Ocean with three ships, becoming the first European explorer to reach the
Pacific from the Atlantic.

On September 20, 1519, Magellan set sail from Spain in an effort to find a
western sea route to the rich Spice Islands of Indonesia. In command of
five ships and 270 men, Magellan sailed to West Africa and then to Brazil,
where he searched the South American coast for a strait that would take
him to the Pacific.

On Easter day at midnight, the Spanish captains mutinied against their
Portuguese captain, but Magellan crushed the revolt, executing one of the
captains and leaving another ashore when his ship left St. Julian in August.

On October 21, he finally discovered the strait he had been seeking. The
Strait of Magellan, as it became known, is located near the tip of South
America, separating Tierra del Fuego and the continental mainland. Only
three ships entered the passage; one had been wrecked and another
deserted. It took 38 days to navigate the treacherous strait, and when
ocean was sighted at the other end Magellan wept with joy.

MIKE GRACIA

On this day in 1978, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone (right) 
and City Supervisor Harvey Milk (left), a gay-rights activist, were
shot to death inside City Hall by Dan White (below), a former
supervisor.