[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 48 (Thursday, March 25, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H1784]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page H1784]]
                               GUN SAFETY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, I do identify with the comments of my 
colleague, a livable community where our families are healthy.
  I wanted to reference just for a moment a concern about the health of 
American families. One-third of a century ago, the automobile was the 
focus of our concern. Ralph Nader published a famous book on ``Safe At 
Any Speed,'' and this Congress, the Federal Government, the industry, 
embarked upon an aggressive program to make the automobile safer. As a 
result of extensive data collection, reengineering, legal regulation 
and, of course, the automobile for years has been personalized so it 
could only be operated by somebody authorized to use it, today we have 
seen spectacular increases in automobile safety and a reduction in 
deaths despite the fact that miles traveled have exploded.
  Today, in many communities, gun violence is now surpassing the 
automobile as the major source of accidental death. Today, I sponsored 
a forum on Capitol Hill with three leading experts to deal with gun 
violence. For every 90 minutes in this country, another child dies. The 
evidence was overwhelming from these experts that gun violence can in 
fact be reduced.

  We had testimony from Professor Stephen Teret of the Johns Hopkins 
Center for Public Policy and Research; Dr. Steve Hargarten of the 
Firearm Injury Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin; and Dr. 
Garen Wintemute of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the 
University of California-Davis. What these gentlemen were able to 
demonstrate is that we can in fact take simple steps to do something 
about the epidemic of gun violence in our community.
  First and foremost, we can promote policies that promote safe gun 
storage. Starting with the State of Florida, 15 States now have enacted 
legislation that promotes responsible gun ownership and safe gun 
storage and we have seen a resulting reduction in firearm violence 
among children.
  Second, it does make a difference if we prevent criminals from 
gaining access to guns at the front end, and there is persuasive 
evidence that by extending the prohibitions under the Brady law to more 
criminals, to prevent them from access to guns, that we can have a 
reduction in their use of guns in their hands.
  Finally, there was attention given to something that is often 
ignored, the design of weapons in the United States. Indeed, it is a 
sad commentary that there are more restrictions over the product safety 
of toy guns than of real guns. There is no reason for us to manufacture 
and sell guns in this country today that do not tell you whether or not 
there is a bullet in the chamber. There is no reason today that we have 
to have guns with automatic clips that when you disengage the clip that 
it does not sweep the bullet from the chamber. For a few cents to a few 
dollars, guns can be built that provide this safety device. Many have 
it. Tragically, too many do not.
  Last, and I think most significant, there is no longer any reason for 
us not to personalize a gun just like we personalize a car with a key, 
so that somebody who steals that gun, somebody who wrestles a gun away 
from a law enforcement professional would have that gun disabled. The 
technology is available today and it is sad that we have not yet taken 
steps to make sure that it is available to us.
  The same strategy that resulted in a dramatic reduction in automobile 
fatalities in this country can be employed to reduce gun violence. Get 
good information instead of spreading it over a dozen different 
agencies in the Federal Government. Have the courage to use and analyze 
that information and to implement policies that will make a difference 
for America's families. It is my fervent hope that as we talk about 
ways to make our communities more livable that we will take safe, 
simple, commonsense steps to reduce gun violence for the sake of our 
children. I hope this Congress has the courage to act.

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