[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 53 (Thursday, May 5, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 5, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
   A CHOICE BETWEEN POLITICAL LIVES OF GUN LOBBYISTS OR THE LIVES OF 
                               POLICEMEN

  (Mr. DURBIN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. Speaker, Congress has a choice today on the assault 
weapons ban. Members of Congress can stand with the gun lobby, or they 
can stand with the police. The well-funded National Rifle Association 
lobbyists got up this morning determined to save their jobs by 
threatening Members of Congress that a vote for the weapons ban would 
endanger their political lives. But thousands of men and women also got 
up this morning, put their badges on, their police uniforms on and 
their lives on the line to protect our families and our communities. 
These policemen are begging Congress to help take these combat weapons 
off the street and out of the hands of the mentally unstable, the 
criminally violent, and the drug gangs.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I say to my colleagues, ``Take your pick, Members of 
Congress. Protect the political lives of gun lobbyists or the lives of 
policemen across America.''
  History will undoubtedly view today's debate with incredulity if we 
fail. A nation awash in violent crime watches as its national 
legislature cannot bring itself to prohibit 19 of the most dangerous 
weapons available. Let us hope that Congress has the courage today to 
take this small step toward making American families a little safer.

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