[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

[[Page S11573]]

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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