[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 118 (Friday, August 19, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: August 19, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
KEEP THE ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN IN THE CRIME BILL
(Mr. SKAGGS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. SKAGGS. Mr. Speaker, as Members of this House talk about how to
get the crime bill to pass, and consider taking the assault-weapons ban
out of it, I would like to talk about Dion, Ty, and Aaron.
Last fall, these three students from Ranum High School in
Westminster, CO, were driving home. Not doing anything wrong. By all
accounts, they are fine, young men, all members of the school band.
That night, as they were driving home, two other young people opened
fire on their car.
Luckily, none of the three was killed. But Dion was hit five times,
Ty twice, and Aaron once.
They were all shot, and shot so many times because the person
shooting at them was using an AK-47.
That is an assault weapon designed by Communists for their armies.
Its purpose is to kill lots of people, quickly. It comes with a
detachable 30-round magazine--but if that is not enough, you can always
buy one with 150 rounds. It fires more than 100 bullets a minute.
As a former Marine, I can tell you--that is a lot of firepower. What
in the world is a weapon like this doing on the streets of Westminster,
CO, where it can be used against Dion, Ty, and Aaron?
It is not there because a hunter needs it.
It is there because the gangs, the criminals, and the psychos, like
it. They are using them to turn our streets into combat zones. They are
using them to outgun the police. One disturbed man used an AK-47 to
kill 5 small children and wound 30 others in a schoolyard in Stockton,
CA. And in September 1993, one was used on Dion, Ty, and Aaron.
Let us get the AK-47's off the streets of Westminster--and off the
streets of all American towns and cities. Let us keep the assault
weapons ban in the crime bill.
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