[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 81 (Thursday, June 23, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 23, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                            FAMILY VIOLENCE

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Finally, Mr. President, let me on the floor of the 
Senate express not my self-righteousness but nevertheless keen 
disappointment at the direction of at least part of the deliberations 
of the conference committee on crime.
  I know people in the conference committee are very committed, and I 
appreciate their work. But, as I said yesterday on the floor of the 
Senate, there is this focus on family violence in our country, and 
there are some important initiatives right now that are in that crime 
bill.
  Senator Biden's Violence Against Women Act is so important, and other 
fine works.
  There are two amendments that are extremely important. One deals with 
setting up safe visitation centers for children and for women that I 
talked about yesterday. I believe that would be part of the crime bill.
  But, Mr. President, I do not understand for a moment the hesitancy 
or, for that matter, I would say, the efforts to block one other 
amendment. We had an amendment that we passed on the floor of the 
Senate that went into this crime bill. That amendment said--I 
introduced that amendment--if you have committed an act of violence 
against a spouse or a child, you will not be able to own or obtain a 
firearm; or if there is a restraining order against you, you will not 
be able to do so.
  The problem, Mr. President, is that all too often and in all too many 
States if a man, if that was the situation, was to batter his 
neighbor's wife, it would be a felony; but if he battered his own wife, 
it would be a misdemeanor.
  We say in our country, if you committed a felony, you should not be 
able to own a gun, but we do not consider battering to be a felony.
  My understanding about what is going on in the conference committee 
is that some people in the conference committee are making the proposal 
that, yes, you cannot own a gun if, in fact, you have committed a 
felony and acts of violence that is considered a felony, but the 
problem is it is not considered a felony in so many States.
  Mr. President, I have talked to many people in Minnesota who say, 
``Don't ever take our sporting rifles away from us.'' I agree. ``Don't 
you go overboard on gun control.''
  You and I, Mr. President, both feel strongly about some of these 
measures. But I agree with people who say that.
  Those same people say to me, ``Yea, Paul, this is reasonable.''
  So many women murdered, I think about a third, because of a gun. The 
difference between being a battered woman and a dead woman is a gun.
  ``Yea, Paul, we agree. If someone has committed an act of violence 
against a spouse or child, he should not be able to''--or in some 
cases, rare cases, she should not be able to--``own a firearm.''
  And certainly, with a court order, that should be the case.
  I do not understand the hesitancy about this. I do not know whether 
this amendment that I will bring to the floor of the Senate today or 
tomorrow will really get some national focus on this, or exactly what 
we do, but I think now is the time to pass this. And I believe it must 
be a part of the crime bill.
  I think we have reached a conclusion in our country, as a people, 
that: First, for all too many women and their children, the home is a 
very dangerous place; second, family violence knows no boundaries; it 
happens everywhere in all communities; and, third, it is a crime, and 
people must be held accountable.
  If it is a crime, then it strikes me this is a very reasonable 
proposal to take guns and firearms out of the hands of those who have 
perpetuated this violence.
  So I hope that in the conference committee we will get a favorable 
result. But I have a feeling we are going to have to fight very hard 
for it; maybe I will have to fight on the floor of the Senate to create 
some of that national pressure.
  I yield back the remainder of my time.

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