[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 84 (Tuesday, June 15, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H4225-H4226]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            CONGRESS MUST ADDRESS THE THREAT OF GUN VIOLENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) is 
recognized

[[Page H4226]]

during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, gun violence against children in this 
country has reached a point where even Congress can no longer ignore 
its consequences. Even though there still have been the 10 to 15 
children, victims of violence across the country, finally it was some 
very stark school shootings that focused the attention.
  I sat on the floor of this Chamber and heard the Speaker articulate 
from this well how finally Congress and the House of Representatives 
would be coming forward. We could not rush to judgment before Memorial 
Day bringing something to the floor of the House. We had instead to 
take a more deliberative course of action.
  Well, we have seen what has been the result of that more deliberate 
course of action. After the NRA has been spending hundreds of thousands 
of dollars per day over the last couple of weeks, even more in their 
fund-raising efforts, we now have coming before the House of 
Representatives a rather confused set of provisions, and we are poised 
to pull another Kosovo where we cannot go right, left, sideways or 
forward.
  Mr. Speaker, that is unfortunate because there is, in fact, a very 
simple answer for the House of Representatives to move forward. First 
and foremost, it is to refine and pass the provisions that did secure 
approval in the U.S. Senate restricting the magazine clips, having 
child access protection and dealing with the gun show loophole to the 
Brady bill. These are modest steps, but the American public supports 
it, and it would be an opportunity for us to show that we have got the 
message and can work together.
  The next step would be to consider Representative Carolyn McCarthy's 
comprehensive bipartisan bill to reduce gun violence amongst our youth. 
The Child Gun Violence Protection Act, H.R. 1342, with bipartisan 
support, contains provisions that will make a difference and should be 
considered in short order before this Chamber.
  Mr. Speaker, finally, and I think most interestingly for me, is an 
opportunity for us to take a step back and look at the same sort of 
approach that made a difference in reducing the carnage on our Nation's 
highways. If we would have taken a step back in history a third of a 
century, we would have heard the same arguments against being able to 
make a difference in auto safety that we hear today about gun violence. 
The Americans have a love affair with the automobile that, if anything, 
is more pervasive than the attachment to firearms. There is no single 
step that is going to make the total difference, that is going to solve 
the problem. Some of it may actually cost money investing in making 
things safer.
  Well, we heard all of those arguments, but Congress finally was 
provoked to act, and it did so in a comprehensive way. It produced 
legislation, consumer product safety-oriented, that made automobiles 
safer. We had manufacturers, instead of fighting auto safety, 
understand that it was important to produce the safest possible product 
and competed in terms of providing the amenities of a safer vehicle. It 
was a selling point.
  We found that the American people would rise to the occasion, and, 
even though it was inconvenient for some or perhaps a modest 
infringement on their lifestyle, we have seen dramatic changes take 
place in terms of attitudes of people; driving and alcohol, for 
instance. We have changed America's patterns. A third of a century 
later, we have cut in half the rate of death and destruction on our 
highways.

  I am absolutely convinced that we can do the same thing dealing with 
the reduction of gun violence with our youth, that we can have as much 
consumer safety for real guns as we have for toy guns. The key will be 
whether or not the Members of this Chamber are willing to stand up for 
our families and for our children to look at the apologists for gun 
violence, look past their misrepresentations and political threats and 
do what is right. If we were able to do it to change a climate of 
carnage on our highways, I think we can do the same thing to reduce gun 
violence for our children.
  Mr. Speaker, I look forward to Congress this week taking this 
important first step to avoid a debacle like we had, an inability to 
make some decisions on Kosovo, and send clear statements about our 
commitment to reduce gun violence for our children.

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