[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 55 (Wednesday, April 21, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H2230-H2231]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               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, my concern as a Member of Congress is 
that the Federal Government does everything it can to be a full partner 
in promoting the livability of our communities, because at the end of 
the day, what our families care about is that their children are safe 
when they go out the door to go to school in the morning, that the 
families are economically secure and healthy. Of those factors, the 
most important, I am sure, is the safety of those families.
  We have had within the last 24 hours another tragic reminder that 
handgun and firearm violence continues to be either the first or second 
leading cause of death and injury to America's children. It does not 
have to be this way. A few weeks ago I was honored to host a forum on 
this topic with several distinguished scholars who discussed ideas with 
Members of Congress of things we can do to reduce firearm violence with 
our children.
  For instance, we have the opportunity to make firearms safer. All we 
need here in Congress is the will to change Federal policy so that gun 
manufacturers meet consumer safety standards for their products.

                              {time}  1400

  It is a shame and a national disgrace that toy guns currently have 
higher consumer product safety standards than real guns. It is 
outrageous in America that we cannot adopt the simple suggestion to 
require an indicator that will tell somebody whether or not a gun is 
loaded or require, for a few cents or maybe a couple of dollars, a 
device that will not let a gun fire if the clip has been removed, or 
requiring a trigger lock on a gun.
  It is sad that, given the tragic nature of gun injuries and violence, 
that there is not a single source of information in the entire United 
States Government to help us understand the pattern, to isolate the 
patterns and types of violence and be able to do something about it. It 
is not the case in other parts of American society.
  There are regulations that will in fact make a difference to disrupt 
this pattern of violence. We have demonstrated that by taking away the 
right to own guns from people who have demonstrated that they are not 
responsible gun owners; that we can make a difference in how those guns 
are used. We have shown that there are consistent areas of support to 
expand that pattern of denial to people who have consistently shown 
patterns of violent and reckless behavior. The vast majority of the 
American public supports it. The majority of gun owners support it.

[[Page H2231]]

  It is time for us to take that simple step to reduce unnecessary gun 
violence. It is time for the Federal Government to step forward and 
stop purchasing firearms for our use that do not have smart gun 
technology that ensures that that gun that we give to a law enforcement 
officer cannot be used against him or her, to personalize the weapon. 
Similarly, we would not think of having an automobile that did not have 
a key that personalized its use, so we should do the same with 
firearms.
  There are other important areas that we have tried to bring before 
people in this Chamber. Law enforcement wants us to help them tackle 
the all-too-frequent problems of firearm violence. Fifteen States have 
child access protection laws which make it harder for children to gain 
access to guns.
  We have had the tragic example of Jonesboro, Arkansas where the 
children's first stop was at a home that used safe storage of the 
weapons. There, even using a blowtorch, they were unable to get access 
to weapons. They went to the next home, and there the weapons were open 
and accessible. The rest is tragic history.
  The horror that we witnessed yesterday in Colorado is part of a 
larger pattern. How many more examples are we going to have to witness 
before we come to our senses on the floor of this Chamber and take 
simple steps?
  There is no one single solution to solve the epidemic of gun 
violence, but we have the responsibility to undertake these simple, 
common sense steps. I pray the Republican leadership will allow us to 
vote on some of them in the course of this session.

                          ____________________