SHOOT THE PRESIDENT, THEN LIVE IN LUXURY 35 YEARS LATER: That’s the life of failed Reagan assassin John Hinckley, who spends much of his time these days free to stroll about an upscale gated resort community on the James River near Williamsburg, Virginia, where he shares a luxury residence with his elderly mother.

It was 35 years ago today that Hinckley shot Reagan, White House Press Secretary Jim Brady, Secret Service Agent Timothy McCarthy and police officer Thomas Delahunt. All four survived, but Brady, who was shot in the head, was permanently disabled. The bullet that hit Reagan came literally within a half inch of striking the president’s heart.

His lawyers are pushing a federal judge to end all restraints on Hinckley, who is often seen shopping, alone, in area stores, and walking, alone, on the many secluded trails in the heavily forested area, according to the Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group’s Richard Pollock. Government lawyers are fighting to keep Hinckley under observation because the doctors say some of his mental problems persist.

As it happens, the Hinckley home is on the 13th hole of one of the resort’s three PGA-quality golf courses, not far from where President Obama prepared for one of his 2012 debates with Mitt Romney and both congressional Democrats and Republicans frequently convene meetings.

“This is absolutely so wrong. To let this guy go free. He almost killed the 40th President of the United States, coming within an inch of his heart,” Jim Kuhn, top executive assistant to Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan throughout their eight years in the White House, told Pollock. “He ruined Jim Brady’s life. And he shot two other people. And he’s going to walk? This guy is out scot-free? I just don’t get it.”