[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 41 (Thursday, April 2, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3131-S3132]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Chafee, Mr. Reed, and Mrs. 
        Boxer):
  S. 1917. A bill to prevent children from injuring themselves and 
others with firearms; to the Committee on the Judiciary.


                the child firearm access prevention act

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today with Senators Chaffee, Reed 
and Boxer, to introduce the Child Firearm Access Prevention Act.
  The tragedy which occurred in Jonesboro, AR, last week raises many 
questions. Two come to mind immediately. Why do children kill? I do not 
know the answer to that. I have heard a variety of opinions from people 
who suggest that violent television and violent movies are somehow 
contributing to this. There are others who say, if the children would 
just pray in school, it would make all the difference in the world. 
Some look to the families more than the schools; others think the 
schools have a greater role to play.
  We will debate this at length, and I am sure many of us will come up 
with a lot of different explanations as to why children reach the point 
in their young lives where they would take the life of another.
  But the tragedy in Jonesboro raised another question which I think we 
can address because it is a simpler question. How do children at that 
young age come to possess lethal weapons? Think about it. An 11-year-
old and a 13-year-old with 10 firearms--rifles, shotguns, and handguns, 
and 3,000 rounds of ammunition--went into the woods behind that middle 
school, tricked the students out with a fake fire alarm, opened fire 
and shot off somewhere in the range of 30 to 40 rounds before they were 
finally stopped.
  Four little girls were killed. A teacher, who deserves all of our 
recognition and praise for her courage, stood in the line of fire to 
protect one of those little girls and lost her own life. This teacher, 
the mother of a 2-year-old, lost her life defending her students.
  How do kids come into possession of firearms? They do not buy them. 
In most States it is unthinkable that they would even approach a 
counter and try. And yet, day after day in America there is further 
evidence of children, younger and younger, being found with firearms.
  The day after the Jonesboro, AR, tragedy, in Cleveland, OH, a 4-year-
old showed up at a day-care center with a loaded handgun.
  In my home State of Illinois, in Marion, IL, a high school student 
showed up at school the next day with a handgun.
  In Daly City, CA, the day after Jonesboro, a 13-year-old was arrested 
for attempting to murder his principal with a semiautomatic pistol.
  There is something we can do about this. I am not sure that it will 
solve the problem completely, but it can help. Fifteen States have 
already recognized this problem and done something about it. These 
States have passed a child access prevention law which is known as a 
CAP law, saying to those who purchase and own handguns, it is not 
enough for you to follow the law in purchasing them and to use those 
guns safely; you have another responsibility. If you are going to own a 
firearm in your home, you have to keep it safely and securely so that 
children do not have access to it.
  And these laws are effective. Florida was the first state to pass a 
CAP law in 1989. The following year, unintentional shooting deaths of 
children dropped by 50 percent. Moreover, a study published in the 
Journal of the American Medical Association in October 1997 found that 
there was a 23% decrease in unintentional firearm related deaths among 
children younger than 15 in those states that had implemented CAP laws. 
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, if all 50 
states had CAP laws during the period of 1990-1994, 216 children might 
have lived.
  Should we consider these state laws as a national model? I think the 
obvious answer is yes, because the tragedy in Jonesboro, which we will 
not forget for a long, long time, unfortunately, is not unique. Every 
day in America 14 young people, ages 19 and under, are killed in gun 
homicides, suicides and unintentional shootings, with many more 
wounded.
  The scourge of gun violence frequently attacks the most helpless 
members of our society--our children.
  Mr. President, what I propose today is Federal legislation that will 
apply to every State, not just 15, but every State. And this is what it 
says. If you want to own a handgun, a rifle or shotgun, and it is legal 
to do so, you can; but if you own it, you have a responsibility to make 
certain that it is kept securely and safely.
  You may buy a trigger lock. Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin has a 
proposal that all handguns be sold with trigger locks. I support it. I 
am a cosponsor of it. It makes sense.
  How many times do you read in the paper, how many times do you listen 
on TV, to kids with their playmates and the gun goes off and someone is 
killed? A trigger lock, as Senator Kohl has proposed, is sensible. It 
should be required. It shouldn't even be debated. I think that 
legislation will go a long way toward reducing gun violence.
  But beyond that proposal, the legislation I propose today, says to 
every gunowner, if it is not a trigger lock, put that gun in a place 
where that child cannot get to it.
  As to these two kids, 11 and 13 years old, God only knows what was 
going through their minds when they were setting out to get the guns to 
go out and start shooting. They first stopped at the parents of one of 
the kids and wanted to pick up that parents' guns. That parent had the 
guns under lock and key in a vault and they couldn't get to them. So 
they thought about it and said, wait a minute, my grandfather has some, 
too; let's go over to his place. And that is where they came up with 
the weapons and the ammunition.

[[Page S3132]]

  In one instance, one parent had taken the necessary steps to take the 
guns and keep them away from kids. Sadly, it appears--and I just say 
``appears'' because I do not know all the details--in another case that 
did not happen.
  Now a lot of people will say to me, ``There they go again, those 
liberals on Capitol Hill. Another bill, another law to infringe on 
second amendment rights.'' Oh, I know I will hear from the folks from 
the National Rifle Association, all the other gun lobbies, screaming 
bloody murder about the second amendment.
  But look at the 15 States that have already passed these child access 
prevention laws, to protect kids, to say to gun owners ``you have a 
special responsibility.'' You will not find a list of the most liberal 
States in America. The first State to pass this legislation in 1989 was 
Florida. The list goes on: Connecticut, Iowa, California, Nevada, New 
Jersey, Virginia, Wisconsin, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, North 
Carolina, Delaware, Rhode Island, and in 1995, the last State to pass a 
child access prevention law, certainly no bleeding heart State by any 
political definition, was Texas. The Texas law says it is ``unlawful to 
store, transport or abandon an unsecured firearm in a place where 
children are likely to be and can obtain access to it,'' and it is a 
criminal misdemeanor if you do it.
  I am going to ask my colleagues in the Senate to not only return home 
during this recess and to not only witness those sad events on 
television--the funerals in Jonesboro, the tributes--but to also 
resolve to do something about it. That is what we are here for. That is 
why we were elected to the Senate and the House, not just to be sad as 
we should be, but to do something about it. Not to infringe on people's 
right to own firearms, but to say ``Own them responsibly, put them 
securely in your homes, keep them safely, keep them away from 
children.''
  Mark my words, my friends, and you know this from human experience, 
no matter where you hide a gun or a Christmas gift, a kid is going to 
find it. You can stick it in a drawer and say, ``Oh, they will never 
look behind my socks, that is the last place in the world,'' or up on 
some shelf in the closet and believe your child can't reach that, but 
you know better. You know when you are gone and the house is empty 
those kids are scurrying around and looking in those hiding places. So 
I hope we can address this issue.
  First, Senator Kohl's legislation for these child safety devices, 
these trigger locks, will help. But then take the extra step, follow 
these 15 States and enact a federal law.

  But please, let this Senate and this House, before we leave this 
year, do something to make certain that those troubled children cannot 
get their hands on a firearm. I think every parent in America, 
particularly those of children of school age, paused at least for a 
moment after they heard about Jonesboro and thought, could it happen to 
my son, my daughter, my grandson, my granddaughter? The sad reality of 
life in modern America, is, yes, it could. There are so many weapons 
being kept so carelessly that it could happen to any of us or any of 
our children in virtually any school in America.
  Mr. President, I know that the Senate has a very busy schedule and 
limited opportunity this year, but I hope as part of our work we will 
let the lesson of the tragedy of Jonesboro result in legislation that 
will be designed to protect children and schoolteachers and innocent 
people in the future.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a copy of the legislation 
be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1917

         Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 
     of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Child Firearm Access 
     Prevention Act''.

     SEC. 2. CHILDREN AND FIREARMS SAFETY.

       (a) Secure Gun Storage or Safety Device.--Section 921(a) of 
     title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 
     the following:
       ``(34) The term `secure gun storage or safety device' 
     means--
       ``(A) a device that, when installed on a firearm, prevents 
     the firearm from being operated without first deactivating or 
     removing the device;
       ``(B) a device incorporated into the design of the firearm 
     that prevents the operation of the firearm by anyone not 
     having access to the device; or
       ``(C) a safe, gun safe, gun case, lock box, or other device 
     that is designed to be or can be used to store a firearm and 
     that can be unlocked only by means of a key, a combination, 
     or other similar means.''.
       (b) Prohibition and Penalties.--Section 922 of title 18, 
     United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:
       ``(y) Prohibition Against Giving Juveniles Access to 
     Certain Firearms.--
       ``(1) Definition of juvenile.--In this subsection, the term 
     `juvenile' means an individual who has not attained the age 
     of 18 years.
       ``(2) Prohibition.--Except as provided in paragraph (3), 
     any person that--
       ``(A) keeps a loaded firearm, or an unloaded firearm and 
     ammunition for the firearm, any of which has been shipped or 
     transported in interstate or foreign commerce or otherwise 
     substantially affects interstate or foreign commerce, within 
     any premise that is under the custody or control of that 
     person; and
       ``(B) knows, or reasonably should know, that a juvenile is 
     capable of gaining access to the firearm without the 
     permission of the parent or legal guardian of the juvenile;
     shall, if a juvenile obtains access to the firearm and 
     thereby causes death or bodily injury to the juvenile or to 
     any other person, or exhibits the firearm either in a public 
     place, or in violation of subsection (q), be imprisoned not 
     more than 1 year, fined not more than $10,000, or both.
       ``(3) Exceptions.--Paragraph (2) does not apply if--
       ``(A) the person uses a secure gun storage or safety device 
     for the firearm;
       ``(B) the person is a peace officer, a member of the Armed 
     Forces, or a member of the National Guard, and the juvenile 
     obtains the firearm during, or incidental to, the performance 
     of the official duties of the person in that capacity;
       ``(C) the juvenile obtains, or obtains and discharges, the 
     firearm in a lawful act of self-defense or defense of 1 or 
     more other persons; or
       ``(D) the person has no reasonable expectation, based on 
     objective facts and circumstances, that a juvenile is likely 
     to be present on the premises on which the firearm is 
     kept.''.
       (c) Role of Licensed Firearms Dealers.--Section 926 of 
     title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 
     the following:
       ``(d) The Secretary shall ensure that a copy of section 
     922(y) appears on the form required to be obtained by a 
     licensed dealer from a prospective transferee of a 
     firearm.''.
       (d) No Effect on State Law.--Nothing in this section or the 
     amendments made by this section shall be construed to preempt 
     any provision of the law of any State, the purpose of which 
     is to prevent children from injuring themselves or others 
     with firearms.
                                 ______