[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 47 (Tuesday, March 14, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3905-S3906]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

                                 ______


                   PASADENA ADOPTS AMMUNITION CONTROL

 Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, for more than a decade now, I 
have argued here on the Senate floor, and often in print, that in order 
to make any real progress in reducing gun violence, we must seek to 
control ammunition. I have put it that ``Guns don't kill people, 
bullets do.''
  This is not to say that I do not support gun control; I certainly do. 
I was an original cosponsor of the Brady bill when it was first 
introduced in 1989, and was proud to vote for it when it finally passed 
the Senate in 1993. We are all pleased at the very real difference the 
Brady law has made. Just 1 year after it became effective, background 
checks under the Brady law have already prevented 45,000 felons and 
other prohibited persons from purchasing handguns. No doubt a 
significant number of lives were saved as a result.
  Yet the fact remains that there are already some 200 million firearms 
in circulation in the United States. These weapons are not going away. 
With a minimum of care they will last indefinitely. I recall that as an 
officer of the deck in the Navy of the 1940's, I was issued a Colt 
model 1911 .45 caliber sidearm. That particular handgun was first sold 
to the U.S. military in 1912, and continued to be used in the Navy 
until very recently. Use of weapons 35 or even 50 years old has been 
common in our Armed Forces--and these guns still work perfectly.
  We probably have a two-century supply of guns in circulation today. 
On the other hand we have something like a 4-year supply of bullets. 
This has led me to conclude that a different approach is needed.
  Gun violence is a public health epidemic and therefore demands an 
epidemiological response. An epidemiologist will tell you that in order 
to cope with any epidemic, you must eliminate the pathogen, or the 
agent causing the disease. In 1992, Dr. Lester Adelson made precisely 
this argument in an article entitled ``The Gun and the Sanctity of 
Human Life: the Bullet as Pathogen'' in the ``Archives of Surgery.'' In 
the case of gun violence, the pathogen is the bullet. I say again, guns 
don't kill people, bullets do.
  I have been making this point for many years now, but with only the 
slightest success in getting it across. We have had two small but 
significant achievements: in 1986 and again in 1994, I was able to 
secure enactment of provisions to ban the manufacture or importation of 
armor-piercing ammunition: the so-called cop-killer ballets. This was 
done with considerable difficulty in the first instance because, 
although the police groups, led by Phil Caruso and the New York 
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, were strongly supportive, the 
National Rifle Association was not, and in the end only 
[[Page S3906]] grudgingly supported the bill. That bill, the Law 
Enforcement Officers Protection Act of 1986, was the first law to 
outlaw a round of ammunition. In 1994 in the crime bill, we updated the 
1986 act to cover a new round of armor-piercing ammunition being made 
in Sweden.
  These were important but really only incremental steps. The slaughter 
in the streets goes on. But Mr. President, we may have some good news. 
An editorial in the March 1, 1995, edition of the Los Angeles Times 
describes a bold new initiative in Pasadena, CA, where the city council 
has adopted one of the first ordinances in the Nation restricting the 
sale of ammunition. I ask that this article be printed in the Record.
  Gun dealers in Pasadena must now record not only their sales of guns, 
but also of ammunition. And why? Pasadena Chief of Police Jerry Oliver 
summed it up nicely when he said

       In Pasadena tonight, at this very moment, it is easier to 
     buy a box of 9-millimeter rounds than it is to buy a can of 
     spray paint.

  Last September, I noted on this floor that the city of Chicago had 
become the first municipality in the Nation to ban the sale of all 
handgun ammunition. Now Pasadena has taken steps to regulate the sale 
of bullets. This won't prevent buyers from going to neighboring Los 
Angeles to buy ammunition, but similar steps are now being considered 
in Los Angeles, and in nearby Azusa as well.
  Mr. President, I hope the actions of Chicago and Pasadena represent a 
turning point in our thinking about this problem. I hope other cities 
and towns recognize the potential of ammunition control to bring about 
real progress in the fight against gun violence. I hope the States and 
the Federal Government will come around to this idea as well. We need a 
new approach, we need bold action, and we need it soon. Pasadena has 
the right idea. Let us hope the rest of the Nation is paying attention.
  The article follows:

               [From the Los Angeles Times, Mar. 1, 1995]

                     How Desperation Becomes a Tool


prodded by ever-rising mayhem, Pasadena passes a law regulating bullet 
                                 sales

       Bravo to the members of the Pasadena City Council. By a 
     vote of 5 to 2, the council adopted what is believed to be 
     the nation's first municipal law restricting bullet sales.
       Approval did not come easily, however. Emotions ran high: 
     Ordinance supporters, outraged by street violence, verbally 
     battled with gun enthusiasts who reject even the most 
     reasonable restrictions. The vote did not occur until shortly 
     before midnight, after five hours of debate. Dozens of 
     backers and opponents of the ordinance offered impassioned 
     testimony before a standing-room-only crowd. Tempers flared; 
     one council member temporarily left the proceedings in 
     angrily reacting to pro-ordinance comments by the police 
     chief. Cheers and catcalls broke out often.
       And what was all the fuss over? The new ordinance requires 
     anyone buying bullets in Pasadena to provide identification 
     showing proof of age and to complete a registration form 
     listing the amount, brand and type of ammunition purchased.
       The measure is intended to curtail sales of bullets to 
     juveniles--such sales are already illegal but nonetheless 
     widespread--and to provide police with information that may 
     help link bullets found at a crime scene with suspects.
       Pasadena has taken but the tiniest of steps with this 
     ordinance. But it is a measure of the headlock in which the 
     gun lobby has held federal, state and local lawmakers that 
     even these tepid, sensible restrictions on bullet sales can 
     be so strongly resisted as an infringement on the right of 
     self-defense. After all, as Pasadena Police Chief Jerry 
     Oliver noted at the start of the council meeting, ``Tonight, 
     it is easier to buy 9-millimeter ammunition than it is to buy 
     a can of spray paint.'' That discrepancy is nuts.
       The most powerful criticism of the new ordinance is that it 
     may not be very effective. Pasadena kids and adults bent on 
     violence may simply seek their bullets in nearby Glendale, 
     Los Angeles or La Canada. Alone, Pasadena can realistically 
     do little to reduce gun violence.
       But the true worth of Pasadena's ordinance--its value as an 
     example--was apparent even before its passage. Monday 
     afternoon the Los Angeles City Council took the first steps 
     to follow Pasadena's lead. The council's Public Safety 
     Committee asked the city attorney to draft an ordinance 
     patterned on Pasadena's. Then, on Tuesday, Azusa's police 
     chief vowed to seek such an ordinance there.
       If Los Angeles and Azusa--as we hope--pass bullet laws, 
     more cities are sure to follow. Then, what began as, in part, 
     a symbolic gesture reflecting the desperation of Pasadena's 
     leaders to ``do something'' about gun crime will become a 
     tough tool against criminals throughout this violence-weary 
     region.
     

                          ____________________