[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 127 (Tuesday, September 13, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 13, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                 HOMICIDES BY GUNSHOT IN NEW YORK CITY

 Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I rise to announce to the Senate 
that over the last 21 days, there were 54 homicides by gunshot in New 
York City. That brings this year's total to 698.
  Three weeks ago, in my last report on the death toll by gun violence 
in New York City, I praised my colleagues in the Senate for passing a 
crime bill that, among other things, places a ban on 19 types of 
semiautomatic assault weapons. Six days after the bill passed, an 
heroic employee of the NBC ``Today Show'' was murdered on West 49th 
Street in Manhattan by a crazed North Carolinian with a Chinese-made 
model of the AK-47. The man had tried to get into the set of the 
``Today Show'' where the whole Nation might have witnessed a massacre. 
Thank God that did not happen.
  Mr. President, assault weapons are designed to fire the greatest 
number of bullets in the shortest period of time. An Uzi can fire 30 
rounds in 5 seconds. These guns are weapons of war; they have no 
legitimate sporting purposes. They are merely the weapons of choice in 
this country for terrorists and drug traffickers. It is time we disarm 
our criminals.
  Today I joined the President on the south lawn of the White House as 
he signed into law the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 
1994, thus putting into effect the long-overdue ban on these pernicious 
weapons. This is a vital step in our fight against the crime epidemic, 
and it will make a difference.

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