[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 89 (Tuesday, June 22, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H4670-H4671]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       PAUL HARVEY ON GUN CONTROL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Myrick). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Hefley) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HEFLEY. Madam Speaker, on Tuesday, April 20 of this year a 
terrible tragedy occurred at Columbine High School in Colorado, and I 
do not represent Columbine High School. Now I do not represent 
Columbine High School. I represent some Littleton addresses, and I am 
close to Columbine, but I do not exactly represent it, but I took this 
tragedy very, very personally. It is something that I think all of us 
have a difficult time getting over.
  On Wednesday, April 21, 1 day, 1 day after the tragedy, as I 
understand it, the chairman of the Democrat Congressional Committee was 
whipping his troops into line saying that this is a great time for gun 
control legislation to be presented to the House because it will be 
good for politics in the next election. I think that is shameful. We 
should not take advantage of this kind of a tragedy for political 
purposes.
  I did not engage in the debate last week when we were dealing with 
this because I did not feel we were doing anything that was really very 
meaningful. Demagoguery flowed from both sides like water, and nothing 
much was really accomplished, and as the various amendments came up, I 
kept asking myself would this have done anything in the Columbine case 
if this amendment had been law, and most cases, sadly I have to say 
absolutely not.
  Recently I heard a Paul Harvey broadcast which I think maybe opens up 
the perspective on the Columbine High School situation, and I would 
like to share that with my colleagues this morning:

       If only the parents had kept their children away from the 
     guns, we wouldn't have had such a tragedy. Yeah, it must have 
     been the guns. It couldn't have been because of half of our 
     children being raised in broken homes. It couldn't have been 
     because our children get to spend an average of 30 seconds in 
     meaningful conversation with their parents each day. After 
     all, we give our children quality time.
       It couldn't have been because we treat our children as pets 
     and our pets as children. It couldn't have been because we 
     place our children in the day care centers where they learn 
     their socialization skills among their peers under the law of 
     the jungle while employees, who have no vested interest in 
     the children, look on and make sure that no blood is spilled.
       It couldn't have been because we allow our children to 
     watch an average of 7 hours of television a day filled with 
     the glorification of sex and violence that isn't fit for 
     adult consumption. It couldn't have been because we allow our 
     children to enter into the virtual worlds in which, to win 
     the game, one must kill as many opponents as possible in the 
     most sadistic way possible.
       It couldn't have been because our children, who 
     historically have been seen as a blessing

[[Page H4671]]

     from God, are now being viewed as either a mistake created 
     when contraception fails or inconveniences that parents try 
     to raise in their spare time.
       It couldn't have been because our Nation is the world 
     leader in developing a culture of death in which 20 million 
     to 30 million babies have been killed by abortion. It 
     couldn't have been because we give 2-year prison sentences to 
     teenagers who kill their newborns.
       It couldn't have been because our school systems teach the 
     children that they are nothing but glorified apes who have 
     evolutionized out of some primordial soup of mud by teaching 
     evolution is fact and by handing out condoms as if they were 
     candy. It couldn't have been because we teach our children 
     that there are no laws of morality that transcend us, that 
     everything is relative and that actions do not have 
     consequences. What the heck, the President gets away with it. 
     No, it must have been the guns.

  I think Paul Harvey's statement illustrates the corruption that has 
permeated our society that leads to things like Columbine. No amount of 
gun legislation will solve the problems in our society. The answers are 
complex, and they are multi-faceted. There is no quick fix. It is time 
that we looked at the roots of our problems and not just at the surface 
symptoms.

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