[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 150 (Friday, October 31, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11572-S11573]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL CONCERN ABOUT YOUNG PEOPLE AND GUN VIOLENCE DAY
Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the
Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of Senate
resolution 141, and that the Senate then proceed to its immediate
consideration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk
will report.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 141) expressing the sense of the
Senate regarding National Concern About Young People and Gun
Violence Day.
The Senate proceeded to consider the resolution.
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I want to thank my many colleagues, who
on such short notice, agreed to cosponsor and enact this resolution
establishing November 6, 1997, as National Concern about Young People
and Gun Violence Day. I know the many volunteers and organizations
working to protect our children also offer their thanks.
Today, Halloween, is a perfect day to reaffirm our national
commitment to stopping youth violence. On this night, children across
America will be going trick or treating dressed in all sorts of
wonderful costumes. They will enjoy seeing each other, visiting their
neighbors, and--best of all--getting mountains of sweets.
But in many cities, parents will keep their children inside. There
will be no trick or treating because the streets are too dangerous for
children. There might be block parties, but there won't be the fun and
freedom that comes from frolicking through the streets in search of the
good treats. All of us recognize the importance of making our streets
and communities safe for children.
One person, Mary Lewis Grow, thought something we might do to make
our young people safer was to establish a national Day of Concern. So,
this Minnesota homemaker, in 1996, persuaded Senators Wellstone,
Specter, and Bradley to introduce this resolution. Other groups, such
as Mothers Against Violence in America, joined her effort. The
proclamation of a special day of recognition also provided support to a
national effort to encourage students to sign a pledge against gun
violence. In 1996, 32,000 students in Washington State signed the
pledge card, as did more than 200,000 children in New York City, and
tens of thousands more across the Nation.
The Student Pledge Against Gun Violence calls for a national
observance on November 6 to give students throughout America the chance
to make a promise, in writing, that they will do their part to prevent
gun violence. The students' pledge promises three things: first, they
will never carry a gun to school; second, they will never resolve a
dispute with a gun; and third, they will use their influence with
friends to discourage them from resolving disputes with guns.
Mr. President, just last week I joined several colleagues on the
floor of the Senate as we decried the murder of Ann Harris, a 17-year-
old Virginian, by a 19-year-old man in Washington State. This random
act of violence was apparently precipitated because the car in which
Ann was a passenger was going too slowly for the driver of the car in
which the murderer was riding. The young man was angry enough and
morally numbed enough to fire his gun into Ann's car, killing Ann. What
a tragedy. What a waste.
In another example, a 14-year-old boy opened fire in a Moses Lake,
WA, classroom, killing a teacher and student and wounding others. He
has been convicted, but that does little to ease the pain of the loss
suffered by that small community. Maybe if he had signed a pledge,
maybe if he had heard the message over and over from parents and
friends that gun violence was the wrong way to solve problems, maybe
if, maybe if. We don't know how we might have stopped this act of
violence, but we know we all have to try education, try outreach, try
everything.
Mr. President, we need to help all of our kids feel a part of this
society. Yet
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often we overlook the young people themselves when trying to develop
solutions. Students and other young leaders represent the great
untapped resource for improving our communities. As many teachers and
police officers have told me, ``if a young person doesn't succeed
anywhere else, they can always find success in a gang.'' We need to
make sure they have more productive options. The road to creating these
options, and to healing our communities, starts with the young people
themselves.
Young people increasingly grow tired of getting all of the blame for
crime in our neighborhoods, and none of the responsibility for
solutions. If you ask young people what they think will make a
difference for them, you'll find them to be highly creative. Many times
their solutions work far better than solutions put forward by adults.
Young people in my State and across the country don't like school
uniform requirements, curfews, and other policies enacted for young
people. Young people with the Seattle Youth Involvement Network decided
to do something about it. They opened a dialog with the police
department. They shared perspectives. They looked across the lines that
separated their cultures. They spoke about ways police see and speak
with young people and vice versa. And they found solutions to many
problems facing them both.
For more than a year now, I've been in a dialog with young people
from all over the State of Washington who have joined the Senate
Advisory Youth Involvement Team I established. They advise me on issues
affecting them, and I help them with local community action. Crime, and
how to prevent it, is a large concern with the young people I talk
with, whether they are in gifted programs or youth offender programs.
This resolution today should be seen as an invitation for young
people across the country to tell us what they think about how to solve
the problems of crime and gun violence. It should be displayed in every
school, community center, and on every street corner in America.
Mr. President, let us work with our kids to show them we care. And
with our communities to give these young people other options to
violence. I again affirm my commitment to work with our young people to
let them know we care about them and to help them learn gun violence is
not the answer to any problem.
Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the
resolution and preamble be agreed to, en bloc, that the motion to
reconsider be laid upon the table, that any statements relating thereto
be placed in the record as if read.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The resolution (S. Res. 141) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to.
The resolution, with its preamble, is as follows:
S. Res. 141
Whereas every day in America, 15 children under the age of
19 are killed with guns;
Whereas in 1994, approximately 70 percent of murder victims
aged 15 to 17 were killed with a handgun;
Whereas in 1995, nearly 8 percent of high school students
reported having carried a gun in the past 30 days;
Whereas young people are our nation's most important
resource, and we, as a society, have a vested interest in
helping children grow from a childhood free from fear and
violence into healthy adulthood;
Whereas young people can, by taking responsibility for
their own decisions and actions, and by positively
influencing the decisions and actions of others, help chart a
new and less violent direction for the entire Nation;
Whereas students in every school district in the Nation
will be invited to take part in a day of nationwide
observance involving millions of their fellow students, and
will thereby be empowered to see themselves as significant
agents in a wave of positive social change; and
Whereas the observance of this day will give the students
the opportunity to make an earnest decision about their
future by voluntarily signing the ``Student Pledge Against
Gun Violence'', and sincerely promise that the students will
never take a gun to school, will never use a gun to settle a
dispute, and will use their influence to keep friends from
using guns to settle disputes: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) November 6, 1997, should be designated as ``National
Concern About Young People and Gun Violence Day''; and
(2) the President should be authorized and requested to
issue a proclamation calling upon the school children of the
United States to observe such day with appropriate ceremonies
and activities.
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