[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 8, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H3772]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   SUPPORT GUN CRIME PROSECUTION ACT

  (Mr. UDALL of New Mexico asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, today along with the 
gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. McCarthy) and the gentleman from Kansas 
(Mr. Moore) and other cosponsors, I introduce a bill that will put at 
least one Federal prosecutor in every State.
  There is no question that our Nation is facing a growing scourge of 
gun violence that is holding an increasing number of our communities 
under siege. Crimes committed with firearms are among the most heinous 
and should be prosecuted as quickly and forcefully as possible.
  While the Federal government has in the past approached the problem 
of gun violence by passing new Federal laws and putting more cops on 
the beat, there is nothing that can be done to attack the problem if 
our prosecutors do not have the resources they need to enforce existing 
laws. Simply put, we must give them the resources they need to fully 
enforce existing gun laws. That is why we have introduced the Gun Crime 
Prosecution Act of 1999.
  This legislation will give every United States Attorney for each 
judicial district an additional Assistant U.S. Attorney position whose 
sole purpose would be the prosecution of crimes committed with a 
firearm. Specifically, each new prosecutor position would give priority 
to violent crimes and crimes committed by felons by committing a full-
time position within the United States Attorney's office to prosecuting 
gun crimes. We will be giving our prosecutors the tools they need to 
enforce the laws that already exist in the statute.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support this bill.

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