[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 13 (Wednesday, February 5, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H300-H301]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE BOMBING PREVENTION ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. McInnis). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from New York [Ms. Slaughter] is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to strongly condemn what has 
been a wave of bombing activity throughout this Nation and to urge 
Congress to act. This type of violence must come to an end and I am 
working to do just that.
  On January 7, I reintroduced H.R. 85, the Bombing Prevention Act of 
1997, which would help end this vicious attack on innocent persons. I 
urge my colleagues to sign on as cosponsors. I know you were as shocked 
as I was over the weekend when government offices, including the court, 
in San Diego were targeted with pipe bombs that were sent through the 
mail. Two hundred employees were evacuated, the package detonated by 
bomb squads in the FBI parking lot.
  Atlanta has faced an even more horrific tragedy. I still remember my 
outrage 2 weeks ago after an attack on a family planning clinic outside 
of Atlanta. The first bomb shattered concrete and blew away pieces of 
the wall and the ceiling at the building that housed the clinic. The 
second bomb was even more ominous. The terrorist designed it to spill 
blood by packing it with metal fragments and 3-inch concrete nails that 
were set to explode over a wide area. It was set to go off an hour 
after the first bomb so that law enforcement officials would bear the 
brunt of that explosion.
  The people of Atlanta have fallen victim twice to a devastating crime 
which was likely perpetrated by domestic terrorists, a crime designed 
to intimidate women from exercising their constitutional right to seek 
health care and a crime that further eroded any sense of innocence left 
in our citizens.
  The Centennial Park bomb at the Olympics 6 months earlier was not 
enough for the homegrown killers. We

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know now that the bomb that exploded at the Olympics consisted of three 
lengths of pipe packed with smokeless powder, an explosive substance 
that is completely unregulated by Federal law. This in itself is a 
scandal, and of course the perpetrators of the act are still at large.
  We are not even safe in our homes. In upstate New York a 10-year-old 
girl opened a Christmas package left in her family mailbox. Instead of 
a gift, she was greeted with an explosion that burned over 27 percent 
of her body.
  The bomb turned out to be a ``message'' from a disgruntled employee 
of her family. I would like to send a return message to domestic 
terrorists and I need your support. Unfortunately it often takes 
tragedies such as these to spur this House to action. I was shocked to 
discover 2 years ago that under current law possession of explosives is 
not a Federal felony. For years we said that certain people, for 
example a felon, should not be allowed to carry guns, and yet they can 
drive around in their car or keep at home 100 pounds of gun powder that 
is not even a crime and that nobody accounts for.
  Bombers commit murder by remote control. They do not have to be in 
the same room as their victims or even in the same city. They never 
have to see the death and destruction that they cause, and their 
ruthless method of murder often kills random bystanders. It is no 
wonder that Americans are uneasy on the streets and their homes, in 
airplanes.
  We need to act now against these particularly cold-blooded killers. 
We must not wait for another attention-grabbing attack. In recent years 
we have seen mail bomb attacks on a judge and civil rights activists in 
the South and a string of bombings at abortion clinics. How much more 
evidence do we need of the pressing need for stronger laws?
  And do not think it cannot happen in your district. Two days ago, 
this week, a potentially deadly pipe bomb was discovered a few blocks 
away from my Rochester office and was just outside the headquarters of 
Eastman Kodak. Fortunately, no one was hurt. But perhaps next time we 
will not be so lucky.
  We have got to keep explosive materials out of the wrong hands. My 
bill would require Federal permits for all explosive purchases and 
would mandate a nationwide background check for these permits. It also 
increases penalties for those who violate Federal explosives laws. 
Obtaining this permit is not a burdensome process. To receive a permit 
you only need to provide your name and address to the vendor and 
indicate the purpose of the purchase. This information would be 
invaluable to law enforcement officials who are investigating 
terrorism.
  Such a process would allow us to screen out people who should not 
have access to these destructive materials, such as felons, fugitives 
and others who show a tendency to take out whatever things they might 
have on their fellow Americans.
  Moreover, my bill contains special provisions that requires every 
person who purchases more than 5 pounds of black or smokeless powder, 
and 5 pounds is enough for gun enthusiasts to have to make their own 
bullets that would make them hold a Federal permit. Criminal bombings 
have doubled since 1988. Think about that. This is almost becoming 
retribution of choice in the United States. They have doubled since 
1988. One-third of those incidents involved black powder or smokeless 
powder.
  Of course this is the part of the bill that will send our friends in 
the National Rifle Association through the roof. But under the current 
law, any purchase of less than 50 pounds of black powder is totally 
exempt from any kind of oversight. This is crazy. Fifty pounds of 
explosive powder can unleash substantial destruction. As every law 
enforcement official knows, bomb makers love that stuff. It is cheap, 
it is available, it is unregulated, and a little bit goes a long way. 
In fact it only takes a pound and a half to make a pipe bomb.
  I would also like to point out these regulations will not harm 
legitimate sportsmen. As I pointed out a while ago, 5 pounds of black 
powder will reload 750 shotgun shells.
  Each year, millions of pounds of explosives are purchased without any 
permit being required or no regulation, and we in Congress have a duty, 
I believe, and an obligation to protect the lives and property from 
bombings.
  Last session, we passed my legislation to help protect innocent 
people from bombs made of plastic explosives such as the bomb used on 
PanAm flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. It is time we got tougher on 
terrorists here at home. Passing H.R. 85 will give law enforcement 
officials another tool in tracking down these homegrown terrorists. It 
must be done. Nobody knows who is going to be next.

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