[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 87 (Friday, July 1, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
  REMARKS ON THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF THE MASSACRE AT 101 CALIFORNIA 
                                 STREET

 Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, 1 year ago today, the lives of 
several families from the San Francisco Bay Area were changed forever. 
They had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, 
when a grievance killer went on a rampage with a semi-automatic 
military-style assault weapon. Sadly, this American tragedy could have 
happened anywhere in the United States, at any time of the day.
  The wrong place was a gleaming office tower called 101 California 
Street in San Francisco. The wrong time was midday, when an unstable 
former businessman named Gian Luigi Ferri stepped off an elevator with 
two TEC-DC9 assault pistols equipped with ``hellfire'' triggers, more 
than 500 rounds of ammunition--including Black Talon bullets made 
infamous in the Long Island railroad shooting--and began rapidly and 
indiscriminately mowing down anyone and everyone in this path.
  Eight people died. Six people were wounded in this massacre.
  I have spoken many times to urge my colleagues in both Houses of 
Congress to help end the carnage by ending easy over-the-counter access 
to assault weapons--by stopping the free flow of these weapons of war 
to our streets. The Senate and the House, I am very proud to say, have 
both done so. Neither Chamber, however, has yet fully discharged its 
responsibility by sending the President a crime bill that includes a 
ban on the future manufacture of semi-automatic assault weapons.
  As the days go by without such bill, assault weapons continue to kill 
and maim.
  It is human nature to want to see something good come from a tragedy.
  Nothing will bring back the victims of the 101 California shooting: 
Allen Berk, John Scully, David Sutcliffe, Jack Berman, Jody Sposato, 
Shirley Mooser, Donald Merrill; and Debbie Fogel.
  These men and women cannot and must not have died in vain. Their 
families cannot and must not suffer in vain.
  It is time for the crime bill conference to produce a report. It is 
time that both Houses of Congress take up and pass it. And it is time 
that the President sign it, as he is eager to do, into law.
  I hope this anniversary is a chance for us to reflect--and is another 
reminder to Congress that it must act now.

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