[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 70 (Wednesday, June 8, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                     GUNS-FREE SCHOOLS ACT OF 1994

  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, I rise today to follow the statement of 
the Senator from California [Mrs. Feinstein]. This is a discussion 
about guns and schools. I want to talk about the same subject she 
discussed and I want to also talk about her leadership on this issue.
  The Senator from California has demonstrated real leadership, caring 
about what happens in our schools and caring about responding to the 
epidemic of crime that has now, all too often, moved from the streets 
to the schoolhouse. It is something we must stop, and I commend her for 
her leadership and thank her very much for working jointly with me to 
put into our current laws, a provision that says we are not tolerant of 
guns in schools. There shall be no guns in schools in this country.
  This morning, at 8:30, I dropped off my son Brendon at a public 
school here. Brendon walked into the schoolhouse and waved goodbye as 
he disappeared into the door, and I did not think much about safety. I 
do not want to have to think about safety in schools. But there is not 
a parent in this country today who drops off his or her children in 
school who does not wonder about violence in our schools.
  I read a report not too long ago that compared the current problems 
in our education system to the problems 20 and 30 years ago. Twenty and 
thirty years ago the difficulties were truancy, speaking out of turn, 
chewing gum. Today it is drugs, violence, and too often now, guns.
  Almost nowhere in this country are we immune from what is happening. 
And what is happening, in too many cases in our schools, is a direct 
reflection of a lot of other things in our society that cause all of us 
great anxiety and cause us to wonder how on Earth are we going to put 
this back together. How are we going to respond to the epidemic of 
crime so people in this country--especially our children in school--can 
feel safe?
  If anyone wonders whether this is a problem, just join me in looking 
at a few of the clippings. This first clip is a compilation of 
incidents this school year from the Washington Post.

       Gunfire and shootings At Washington Area Schools.
       September 9, 1993. There was gunfire outside Shaw Junior 
     High School in the District as classes are let out. A 14-
     year-old was arrested.
       October 18. A 13-year-old student is shot in the locker 
     room at J.H. Johnson Junior High in the District; a 15-year-
     old student is arrested.
       December 8. Gunfire erupted just outside Crossland High 
     School in PG county after classes are let out for the day.
       January 26. A gunman fires into a crowd of students at 
     Eliot Junior High School in the District in a dispute over a 
     jacket.
       January 26. Gunfire erupts outside Dunbar High School in 
     the District after an argument among a group of teenagers. A 
     17-year-old student is arrested.
       March 9. A student is shot inside the cafeteria at Eastern 
     High School in the District. Another 17-year-old student 
     turns himself in to police.

  This in a cafeteria in a high school I visited. Just weeks after I 
visited this high school, one kid bumped another in the cafeteria. The 
other kid pulls a pistol and shoots him several times.

       April 8. A teacher is shot inside a bathroom at Largo High 
     School in Prince Georges County. A 17-year-old student is 
     arrested.
       April 18. A 17-year-old student is shot inside the National 
     Christian Academy in Oxon Hill. A 16-year-old student is 
     arrested.

  Let me show you a few other headlines. In February 1994.

       A teen was shot and wounded near NW Washington high school. 
     For the third time in a week in the District of Columbia, 
     shots ring out in or near a school.

  The story is a frightening compilation of violence that is moving 
from the streets to the schools.
  Moving to other headlines.

       January 27. School shootings break out in DC, no injuries, 
     safety concern renewed.
       Gunfire erupted among a group of teenagers in a hallway at 
     Dunbar High School.

  These are 1994 headlines. And I continue:

       Student shot in Eastern High School. Argument was started 
     by a bump in hallway.

  Just to show you it is not all in the District of Columbia I have a 
few others from outside DC: From Nashville, TN.

       A gun in school. Teen held in classroom shooting death of 
     friend.

  Minot, ND, the State where I come from, where there is a relatively 
low crime rate.

       Boy brings gun to Minot school; 8th grader removed from 
     school after being found with a loaded handgun.

  Incidentally, that was a stolen handgun.
  It is not a problem unique to DC or even to metropolitan areas. A 
national story from a couple of weeks ago was about an 11-year-old boy 
in Butte, MT,--a neighboring State to ours--who died from wounds he 
received when a fellow student fired a semiautomatic gun at a line of 
students in a playground.
  The fact is guns in schools have become a national problem, and now 
is not a time for us to say we are moderate on the question of what we 
should do. It is not a time for us to say we are tolerant of criminal 
behavior in schools. When I drop my son off at school in the morning, I 
and every parent in this country--every parent in this country--want 
our child to enter a schoolroom that we know is safe, safe 
from violence, safe as a place of learning. Too often, now, we cannot 
say that about our children's safety in school. And the issue for all 
of us is what should we do to be certain that everyone in this country 
understands that we are going to separate guns and schools.

  No child in this country should fail to understand the lesson. The 
lesson is, you bring a gun to school you are going to be expelled for a 
year. Do not even think about bringing a gun to school.
  The Senator from California and I attached an amendment to Goals 2000 
that is now law--it is the law of the land--that says those who take 
advantage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and get funds 
under that law shall have in place a policy: If a student brings a gun 
to school they will be expelled for a year.
  When the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is rewritten, the 
provisions of Goals 2000 will be reincorporated in that act. Unless 
that amendment exists again, it will be stricken from the books. I am 
saying, and I think the Senator from California has said, we fully 
intend to see it remains in the law. We hope and ask that those who 
write this in the committee bring it to the floor with our provision in 
it. But if it is not, we fully intend to be on the floor of the Senate 
with an amendment that is identical to what we offered in Goals 2000. 
We must send a message to every corner of this country so all parents 
understand when they send their kids to school, there will not be guns 
in school.
  We are not tolerant. We are not moderate. We believe today that sane 
public policy is to send a message to everyone we will not tolerate 
guns in America's schools. Yes, some will call it interference. Some 
will say we have no business involving the Federal Government in these 
policy areas. But all one has to do is look at the headlines and look 
at the picture of the tragedy of a young American student lying in a 
coffin, shot dead in a school, to understand this is a national problem 
that requires us to say, as legislators, we want a national policy that 
students will not bring guns to school. And the punishment is swift, 
certain, and sure if you do.
  Once again, I am pleased to work with my colleague from California on 
this issue. I am absolutely intent on seeing that when the Elementary 
and Secondary Education Act is brought to the Senate floor for 
reauthorization it will include our gun-free schools provisions 
addressing this important question.
  Madam President, I yield the floor. I make a point of order a quorum 
is not present.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Feinstein). The absence of a quorum has 
been suggested. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. PRYOR. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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