[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 87 (Friday, June 18, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S7282]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              GUN CONTROL

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, during the course of this week we have 
come to the Senate floor many times to discuss pending legislation of 
great importance to families across America.
  Last night--I guess this morning, in the early morning hours--the 
House of Representatives failed to pass the gun control legislation 
which the Senate enacted 3 weeks ago.
  You may remember that Vice President Gore came to the floor, cast the 
deciding vote, broke the tie, and we passed a bill which would try to 
close the loopholes for the sales of firearms at so-called gun shows, 
trying to find a way--any way we can--to reduce the likelihood that 
guns will get into the hands of children and criminals.
  America's heart was broken by Littleton, CO. Families across America, 
who may have heard these numbing statistics about 13 children a day 
dying, finally realized it could happen there--it could happen in 
Littleton, CO, in Conyers, GA, in Jonesboro, AR, in Pearl, MS, West 
Paducah, KY, Springfield, OR, or in Springfield, IL, my hometown. It 
could happen anywhere.
  Guns are just too easy to come by in America. Troubled kids, who are 
always a problem, become tragedies when they take these guns into the 
classrooms, killing their classmates and teachers.
  So we passed legislation, good legislation, bipartisan legislation, 
and sent it to the House of Representatives. Frankly, they decided, 
because of the political heat that might be generated, to call for a 
vote in the middle of the night, at 1:15 in the morning, to ask the 
House of Representatives to go on the Record, because the leadership in 
the House thought Americans would not notice it if it happened in the 
middle of the night. The National Rifle Association did not think 
Americans would care. They are both wrong.
  America understands what happened in the dark of night. There was a 
shot in the dark, and it hit American families right where they live--
families who worry about whether sending their kids to school anymore 
is a safe thing to do, families who wonder, when they say good-bye to 
their child in the morning, if those are the last words they will ever 
share with their child.
  That is where we are in America. That is where gun violence has 
brought us. But this is not a fatal shot on the American families. They 
have, I guess, the hope and the confidence that this Congress will come 
to its senses and once and for all say no to these gun lobbies and yes 
to safety in our schools.
  The big debate in the House was whether or not we ought to post the 
Ten Commandments in schools. Let me go on the Record and say I support 
values for families. I support strengthening families. I believe that 
those families who believe, as my family did, that the practice of 
religion is an important part of values, those families should be 
encouraged in every way whatsoever. We should make sure our kids grow 
up with values. But it is so naive to believe that simply posting the 
Ten Commandments in schools is going to change the climate in America.

  Perhaps, though, we could post the Ten Commandments at the gun shows 
and underline the Commandment that says: Thou shalt not kill, saying to 
people who want to buy and sell these guns without any background 
checks, accept your moral responsibility for what is about to occur.
  The Illinois State Police did a survey of the crime guns they had 
confiscated recently and found over 25 percent of them came out of 
these gun shows, sold to people who, frankly, face no background check 
whatsoever.
  We tried to close that loophole in the Senate; the House has failed. 
We cannot leave this issue alone.

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