[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 77 (Wednesday, May 10, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H4680]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  THE GUN-FREE SCHOOL ZONES AMENDMENTS ACT OF 1995--MESSAGE FROM THE 
          PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (H. DOC. NO. 104-72)

  The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following message 
from the President of the United States; which was read and, together 
with the accompanying papers, without objection referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary and ordered to be printed:

To the Congress of the United States:
  Today I am transmitting for your immediate consideration and passage 
the ``Gun-Free School Zones Amendments Act of 1995.'' This Act will 
provide the jurisdictional element for the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 
1990 required by the Supreme Court's recent decision in United States 
v. Lopez.
  In a 5-4 decision, the Court in Lopez held that the Congress had 
exceeded its authority under the Commerce Clause by enacting the Gun-
Free School Zones Act of 1990, codified at 18 U.S.C. 922(q). The Court 
found that this Act did not contain the jurisdictional element that 
would ensure that the firearms possession in question has the requisite 
nexus with interstate commerce.
  In the wake of that decision, I directed Attorney General Reno to 
present to me an analysis of Lopez and to recommend a legislative 
solution to the problem identified by that decision. Her legislative 
recommendation is presented in this proposal.
  The legislative proposal would amend the Gun-Free School Zones Act by 
adding the requirement that the Government prove that the firearm has 
``moved in or the possession of such firearm otherwise affects 
interstate or foreign commerce.''
  The addition of this jurisdictional element would limit the Act's 
``reach to a discrete set of firearm possessions that additionally have 
an explicit connection with or effect on interstate commerce,'' as the 
Court stated in Lopez, and thereby bring it within the Congress' 
Commerce Clause authority.
  The Attorney General reported to me that this proposal would have 
little, if any, impact on the ability of prosecutors to charge this 
offense, for the vast majority of firearms have ``moved in . . . 
commerce'' before reaching their eventual possessor.
  Furthermore, by also including the possibility of proving the offense 
by showing that the possession of the firearm ``otherwise affects 
interstate or foreign commerce,'' this proposal would leave open the 
possibility of showing, under the facts of a particular case, that 
although the firearm itself may not have ``moved in . . . interstate or 
foreign commerce,'' its possession nonetheless has a sufficient nexus 
to commerce.
  The Attorney General has advised that this proposal does not require 
the Government to prove that a defendant had knowledge that the firearm 
``has moved in or the possession of such firearm otherwise affects 
interstate or foreign commerce.'' The defendant must know only that he 
or she possesses the firearm.
  I am committed to doing everything in my power to make schools places 
where young people can be secure, where they can learn, and where 
parents can be confident that discipline is enforced.
  I pledge that the Administration will do our part to help make our 
schools safe and the neighborhoods around them safe. We are prepared to 
work immediately with the Congress to enact this legislation. I urge 
the prompt and favorable consideration of this legislative proposal by 
the Congress.
                                                  William J. Clinton.  
  The White House, May 10, 1995.
  

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