[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 36 (Thursday, March 26, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S2601]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        THE JONESBORO SHOOTINGS

  Mr. BUMPERS. Madam President, I simply want to call to the body's 
attention--indeed, to the American people's attention--an editorial in 
the Washington Post this morning called ``Trigger Happy.''
  As you know, my home State is Arkansas, and we have just experienced 
one of the gravest tragedies in the history of our State. People all 
over the State--not just those in Jonesboro --are grieving over the 
loss of four children 11 years old, and one 32-year-old pregnant 
schoolteacher, a catastrophic happening that no one can even begin to 
explain.
  But the Post this morning certainly points out one of the serious 
problems facing this country, and one with which we have never even 
come close to coming to grips with, and I don't in the foreseeable 
future see us coming to grips with it. But here it is: In 1992, 
handguns killed 33 people in Great Britain; 36 in Sweden; 97 in 
Switzerland; 60 in Japan; 13 in Australia; 128 in Canada; and, 13,200 
in the United States.
  There was a study completed by the Violence Policy Center. And as the 
Post points out--they can't put it all in here. But listen to this:

       For every case in which an individual used a firearm kept 
     in the home in a self-defense homicide, there were 1.3 
     unintentional deaths, 4.6 criminal homicides, and 26 suicides 
     involving firearms.
       The overall firearm-related death rate among U.S. children 
     aged less than 15 was nearly 12 times higher than among 
     children in the other 25 industrialized countries combined.
       From 1968 to 1991, moter-vehicle-related deaths declined by 
     21 percent, while firearm-related deaths increased by 60 
     percent. It is estimated that by the year 2003, firearm-
     related deaths will surpass deaths from motor-vehicle-related 
     injuries. In 1991 this was already the case in seven States.

  Madam President, those figures are so shocking to me. I have studied 
this issue for some time and have lamented the increasing violence from 
the Postal Service. And now it seems that it is becoming endemic in the 
schoolyards in America.
  When in the name of God is this country going to wake up to what is 
going on in the country and the easy accessibility to guns?
  I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. STEVENS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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