[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 7, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2217-S2218]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        REDUCING GUNS IN AMERICA

  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, last week was Schools Without Violence week 
in the Milwaukee public schools. However, last Monday, at the same time 
that students in my alma mater, Washington High School, were preparing 
essays on a theme of ``Peace Begins with Me,'' gunshots shattered that 
peace. In the first shooting ever in a Milwaukee classroom, a 19-year-
old former student shot a high school senior in the arm and leg. He was 
fortunate that he was not killed.
  In the aftermath, one concerned mother stated:

       Washington High School is a place of learning for kids. 
     They should feel safe enough to learn. For this to happen 
     here is unfair.

  Mr. President, this is not just unfair. It is unacceptable. Young 
people should be able to concentrate on their biology and math classes 
and not on avoiding bullets.
  Of course, there is no easy cure for the violence that is riddling 
our streets and ravaging our schools. We need more police, more 
prisons, and better family structure. However, I do believe that in the 
last Congress we passed three measures which can begin to make a 
difference: The Brady Act, the Youth Handgun Safety Act, and the 
assault weapons ban. I do not believe that any of these bills infringe 
on anyone's second amendment rights, and I am a strong supporter of 
these rights.
  First, the evidence strongly supports the fact that during the 11 
months that it has been in effect, the Brady law has helped save lives. 
According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Brady law 
has resulted in approximately 2 percent of all applicants being turned 
down from purchasing firearms because they were ineligible. Fugitives, 
rapists, murderers, and convicted felons have been arrested while 
trying to purchase guns.
  In my own State of Wisconsin, which has a 2-day waiting period and a 
background check on handguns, more than 800 convicted felons have been 
prevented from buying handguns in the past 3 years.
  Second, as we all know, homicides involving firearms, especially 
among our Nation's young, are on the increase. The risk of being 
murdered by a firearm in the United States has more than doubled since 
1966. But for young people aged 15 to 19, it is much worse. The rate 
has increased nearly seven times. In our America of 1995, far too many 
of our young people are being killed and far too many of our young 
people are killing each other.
   [[Page S2218]] The problem of young people and guns has concerned me 
ever since I came to Washington. Last year, we finally made some 
progress. We enacted the Youth Handgun Safety Act as part of the crime 
bill which makes it a Federal crime to sell a handgun to a minor and 
for a minor to possess a handgun under most circumstances. Our measure 
had bipartisan support, from Senators Craig and Thurmond to former 
Senator Metzenbaum, from the NRA to law enforcement. It is not a total 
solution, but it does take a step toward stemming the violence.
  Finally, we have all read reports that some House Members want to 
repeal the ban on assault weapons as part of a new crime bill. I 
believe that this would be a terrible mistake. Have we forgotten about 
the 1989 massacre of innocent schoolchildren in Stockton, CA, and have 
we forgotten about the Long Island Railroad commuters who were 
ruthlessly gunned down just last year?
  The ban on assault weapons is supported by almost 80 percent of the 
American people and numerous police organizations. Law enforcement 
claims that these are the weapons of choice for gang members and drug 
kingpins and that repealing the ban would ensure that gangs outgun 
police officers who walk the beat. In any event, to repeal the ban 
would be to reopen a partisan political wound just at a time when we 
are trying to work together on behalf of the American people. For that 
reason alone, Senators Dole and Hatch deserve credit for not including 
a repeal in their crime legislation.
  Yes, things have certainly changed from when I was a student at 
Washington High School. Back then, we did not have to worry about gangs 
and drugs and assault weapons and broken homes. Young people were not 
raised in front of TV sets that bombarded them with senseless violent 
images. And now for many young people guns, crime, and violence are the 
only way that they think they can get ahead.
  Mr. President, this is not the kind of a world that our children 
deserve, but it is one in which too many do in fact live. And so I look 
forward to working with my colleagues in the 104th Congress to reduce 
the number of guns in school and the number of young people with guns.
  I thank the Chair.

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