[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 8, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H3771]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         GUN SAFETY LEGISLATION

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, 2 weeks ago the Republican leadership in 
this House told us that we could not vote on gun safety legislation 
before we left for the Memorial Day break because we needed to have a 
hearing in committee, needed to go through the proper legislative 
process.
  Ah-ha. Well, now they are bringing this legislation to the floor with 
no hearings and with no markup. So what was the 2-week delay all about? 
It was about giving the NRA a head start. We took the Republican 
leadership at their word that they would play it straight with gun 
safety legislation. But now it appears that they spent the last 2 weeks 
scheming with the NRA to bring down gun safety legislation.
  With their 2-week head start, the NRA has launched a 2-week campaign 
of fear. They have spent more than a million dollars in the last 
several days to kill gun safety legislation.
  I am here today to ask to plead with the Republican leadership in 
this body to stop playing games with gun safety. This debate is about 
protecting our children. Thirteen children a day are killed by gunfire 
in the United States of America. This is about saving kids' lives.
  This vote on gun safety is deadly serious. There is no more room for 
political games. Let us stop the games. Let us pass gun safety 
legislation for our families and for our children.

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