[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 133 (Wednesday, September 21, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 21, 1994]



 GUNS IN SCHOOLS PROVISIONS OF THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION 
                                  ACT

  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, I thank my colleague from Oklahoma for 
his courtesy.
  Madam President, I take the floor on an issue that is very important 
and timely.
  We have in current law in this country a statute we passed last 
spring that sets a national standard and national policy on the issue 
of bringing guns to schools. This standard in law says nationally 
school boards must have a policy that if kids bring guns to school they 
are going to be expelled for 1 year, no excuses, no ifs, ands, or buts.
  As I speak, the conference committee on the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act is meeting to rewrite the portion of the law where the 
gun free schools provision exists, and there are some who are trying 
desperately to repeal that portion of the law. In fact, they are 
buttressed today by a letter sent around by a number of groups, 
including some school groups. One of them is the Council of Chief State 
School Officers, but there are many others.
  Interestingly enough, I called a chief state school officer today 
from a State who said he knew nothing about this letter.
  Let me tell you what the letter says about guns and schools. It says 
you cannot have guns in school. But, it also quotes a recent survey by 
the National School Board of Education which says: ``Many school 
districts do not have a zero-tolerance policy''--speaking about guns in 
schools--``now because they know that is not in the best interest of 
their students' safety or education.''
  Whoever wrote this has lived in Washington far too long and does not 
understand the need for a national standard on the issue of guns in 
schools. The standard is now the law.
  If in conference these folks succeed in repealing or weakening the 
gun free schools provision and try to bring the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act conference report back to this floor, I 
guarantee you I intend to do everything I can to stop it.
  We need a national standard that says no excuses and no tolerance. 
The epidemic of violence has moved from the city streets to 
schoolrooms. Even within the shadow of this Capitol, kids have been 
shot in their schools. When that happens, we ought to decide as a 
country that we need a national standard that says no guns in schools 
and no excuses, and every parent and every student ought to understand 
that standard.
  So I hope in the next couple of hours when this conference committee 
meets they will understand that some of us will not accept a judgment 
that they should repeal the gun free schools law that now exists. We 
wrote this law to say we do not want guns in our schools, we will not 
allow them in our schools, and we expect every school board in America 
to have a policy to prevent it.
  Let me again thank my colleague from Oklahoma and my colleague from 
Connecticut for their indulgence.
  I yield the floor.

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