[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 28, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H1491-H1492]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE SHADOW OF CRIME OVER AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Nebraska [Mr. Christensen] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, a long shadow is falling over America. 
Slowly the shadow is blotting out the sunny streets and parks where 
children play. It is blocking out the moonlight where couples walk. It 
is even blocking out the warm welcoming glow of our houses at night.
  That shadow is crime, and after many years of thinking it could not 
fall on the quiet communities from which we have come, it has. The 
violence that trails gangs and drugs like a vicious dog drove homicides 
in my city of Omaha to an all time high in 1995. There were 41 killings 
last year in Omaha, 8 more than in 1994. Omaha's police made nearly 20 
percent more juvenile arrests in 1995 than in 1994. And the shadow even 
claimed the life of one of our brave men in blue.

                              {time}  2215

  Many of our districts may have been free from the worst of crime for 
many years, but now we must turn and face the shadow, and drive it 
back.

[[Page H1492]]

  This evening I want to talk about how I think we can restore safety 
to our streets and sanity to the system. I am fighting hard to protect 
the American dream. I believe it is an essential part, to be free of 
the fear that we have today. We must have safe streets and secure 
schools, and I believe we can.
  The fact is, Mr. Chairman, that moral principles, our values, 
underlie our criminal justice system. There is nothing wrong with these 
values, and we should never feel guilty about making those who violate 
those values pay. Theft is not some act or artistic or political 
expression. It is theft, and it is wrong. Murder is not forbidden as a 
matter of subjective opinion. It is objectively evil, and we must stop 
it.
  No one but thieves and murderers benefit when we think otherwise. A 
year ago the House of Representatives here passed six tough bills aimed 
at combatting crime. For instance, the House unanimously approved the 
Victim Restitution Act. The bill instructs courts in Federal criminal 
proceedings to require convicted offenders to pay restitution to their 
victims. The fact that we passed the Victim Restitution Act without a 
single dissenting vote tells me that Congress has truly changed. 
Nowadays we all agree that criminals should have to pay for their 
misdeeds, literally.
  Besides cosponsoring and supporting the six crime bills we have 
already passed, I have been working on some anti-crime legislation 
which I will soon introduce. I call this bill the Hard Time for Guns 
Crime Act. This bill would make it clear that the problem with guns in 
our society is not the guns, but the felons who use them for a common 
purpose. It would do so by dramatically increasing the penalties for 
the possessing, brandishing, or discharging a firearm during the 
commission of a Federal felony.
  The message this bill sends is that we have had it with gun-related 
violence. Americans have zero tolerance for gun crime, so our justice 
system should, too. Our families and children should not be afraid to 
walk to school, go to the grocery store, and leave their windows open 
at night. That is why I am working hard to keep those who would misuse 
guns in jail. No more slick criminal defense attorneys pushing 
criminals to freedom through legal loopholes. No more soft sentences 
after teary speeches before the bench. No more legal gymnastics setting 
criminals free after a fraction of their allotted time in jail.
  My Hard Time for Gun Crimes bill sends a clear message: If you use a 
gun to commit a felony, plan on spending the next few decades behind 
bars, no exceptions. We need to come together as Americans to fight off 
the shadow of crime. Men and women of all ideologies, all races, and 
all creeds agree that the shadow of crime has frightened our families 
and our children long enough. I say to those who care today to restore 
our streets to safety, we should work together to knit up our Nation's 
fraying social fabric. We should work now, today, to stop coddling 
criminals and start crushing them. I think together, in a bipartisan 
fashion, these goals can be achieved in the 104th Congress.

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