[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 45 (Wednesday, April 16, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H1548]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               BAN HANDGUN POSSESSION BY ANYONE UNDER 21

  (Mr. BLAGOJEVICH asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BLAGOJEVICH. Mr. Speaker, do my colleagues know children in the 
United States are 12 times more likely to die because of a firearm than 
children in every other major industrialized nation? And that the 
United States has the highest rate of gun-related child homicides and 
child suicides of 26 major industrialized nations?
  Over the last 30 years the percentage of murders committed by people 
under 21 in my hometown of Chicago went from 10 percent to nearly 40 
percent. Over that same 30-year period, the number of murders committed 
nationally by those under 21 increased 5 fold.
  Mr. Speaker, when we consider these facts, there can be only one 
conclusion: Our children are all too often the perpetrators and the 
victims of handgun violence.
  Mr. Speaker, we in America need to ban handgun possession by anyone 
under 21. I have introduced a bill that would do exactly that, and I 
urge my colleagues to support me in this effort.

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