[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 89 (Tuesday, June 22, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H4717-H4718]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               GUN SAFETY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, last week the House had the chance to do 
the right thing and pass common-sense gun safety legislation, that, in 
fact, the American people support overwhelmingly. But the House 
leadership chose instead to cave in to the wishes of the NRA, the 
National Rifle Association. It was outrageous. House leaders actually 
chose to respond to the tragedy at Littleton by trying to weaken gun 
safety laws.
  Never before have I seen the will of the American people so totally 
ignored.
  The House last week failed to take reasonable and needed action to 
reverse the tide of youth violence, but that will not and must not be 
the end of the story. The tragic shooting at Columbine High School in 
Littleton, Colorado, claimed 15 lives and brought sharply into focus 
the crisis of youth violence afflicting our country.
  When 13 children a day die from gunfire, we have a crisis that the 
Congress of the United States should respond to.
  We know that there is no one solution to the challenge of youth 
violence. We need to encourage stronger relationships between parents 
and children. We need to make sure that schools have the resources that 
they need, resources to reduce class sizes so that students get 
individual attention, and that teachers can handle and keep a handle on 
their classes. We need resources for counselors and for mental health 
professionals, and we need to lessen the negative influence of violence 
in our media. All of these things we need to do.
  But we cannot ignore the fact that angry and troubled youth exact the 
horrible price that we saw in Littleton only when they can get their 
hands on dangerous firearms. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold used 
firearms that were purchased at a gun show. T.J. Solomon shot his 
classmates in Conyers, Georgia, after taking guns without child safety 
locks from his parents' house. Sensible gun safety measures must be a 
part of a comprehensive approach to youth violence.
  Our colleagues in the Senate did the right thing to respond to our 
country's crisis of youth violence. They passed limited, but needed, 
measures to keep guns out of the hands of children and criminals. The 
bill passed by the Senate would close the loophole that allows 
criminals to buy weapons at gun shows; close the loophole that allows 
importation of high-capacity ammunition clips, and require that child 
safety locks be provided when handguns are sold.

  The measure passed the other body, by the other body are not radical, 
and they were passed in a bipartisan way. They will not take away 
anyone's guns. They will not keep any law-abiding citizens from buying 
a gun. They will simply put in place a few needed protections to keep 
guns out of the hands of criminals and children.
  This House should have passed these measures last week when we had 
the chance, but we did not. Why did the House refuse to take such a 
basic step as to close the gun show loophole? I heard a colleague of 
mine say that closing the loophole would create too much paperwork, 
that it would be an inconvenience. Imagine that. An inconvenience. Tell 
that to the parents of a murdered child. Tell them about paperwork. 
Tell them about the annoyance of waiting 3 days to buy a gun. Compare 
the hardship of waiting 3 days to buy a gun to the hardship of endless 
days of agony and mourning the loss of a murdered child.
  This Congress should be ashamed for caring more about reducing 
paperwork than reducing gun violence.
  I am disappointed that the House failed to take steps that we needed 
to last week, but that is not the end of the story. We are here tonight 
to make clear that we are determined to see

[[Page H4718]]

common-sense gun safety legislation passed. The American people deserve 
no less.
  Many Members have strongly supported efforts to keep guns from 
falling into the wrong hands, and I applaud them for their efforts. 
Among those who have been the most committed to protecting children 
from gun violence have been the women in the House of Representatives, 
and that is not an accident. Women are in tune to the devastating 
effects that gun violence has on American families and have rightly 
lead the charge to improve gun safety. We will keep the pressure on 
House leaders to ensure that effective measures are taken to protect 
children from violence. House leaders should act quickly to negotiate a 
compromise that includes the Senate-passed gun safety measures. But if 
the House leaders once again fail to take a strong stand to keep guns 
from criminals and kids, then we will keep searching for opportunities 
to pass the legislation that is called for by the American people.
  I call on my Republican colleagues to stand up for gun safety 
measures. Each time that Congress has passed legislation to keep 
criminals from getting their hands on weapons, it is because there has 
been bipartisan support. I am disappointed that a much smaller share of 
Republicans voted for real gun safety legislation last week than when 
the House passed the successful Brady law that has blocked hundreds of 
thousands of gun sales to criminals.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join other members 
of the Congressional Women's Caucus expressing our disappointment with 
the gun safety debate of last week. It distresses me both as a mother 
and as a former County Prosecutor and judge. With the increase in youth 
violence at schools across America and the countless instances of 
children killed in gun related accidents, I believe there is a need for 
increased gun safety.
  Parents across America are more concerned about their children's 
safety after the Columbine incident. We send our children to school to 
get an education and improve their citizenship, not to be threatened by 
classmates.
  I recognize the fact that legislation restricting the access children 
have to guns is not the only answer to this epidemic of cultural 
values. Parents must take a greater responsibility for ensuring 
children learn right from wrong and how to resolve their problems with 
others in a non-violent way. Violence should not be a child's first 
impulse when life does not go the way they expect.
  I believe that a combination of greater parental involvement in 
children's lives coupled with tighter restrictions on access children 
have to deadly weapons is necessary. As a person matures they learn 
better control of their emotions, and how to deal with others.
  Lask week we tried to close the loophole exploited by several known 
criminals. Unfortunately that initiative was filled with amendments 
seeking to loosen, not tighten, restrictions on gun purchases. Because 
of the action taken to weaken the legislation I was unable to support 
it. I care about our children and families, that is why I took the 
action I did.
  Gun shows have become a haven for criminals and underage gun 
purchasers as well as those collectors seeking to buy guns. The two 
young men who attacked their classmates at Columbine High School bought 
some of the weapons used in that tragedy through a gun show. Timothy 
McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the two men convicted of bombing the 
Oklahoma Federal Building, financed their attack through illegal sales 
at gun shows.
  I do not favor closing gun shows. Rather, I think we need to restrict 
a person's ability to go to a gun show and avoid the background checks 
on their purchase. A background check is not an assault on a person's 
Second Amendment rights. We seek to protect innocent people from the 
risk of gun violence by criminals and children. The law is clear and 
right, if you do not pass a background check you cannot legally own a 
gun.
  An issue raised by gun advocates about background checks was the 
waiting period. The fact is that the majority of safety checks takes no 
more than a few hours. About 70 percent of these checks goes through 
immediately. Law enforcement is concerned about those checks that 
require more time, the minority of background checks. By limiting the 
time law enforcement has to check a person's record we allow people who 
are not supposed to own guns to actually buy weapons.
  I do not want to prevent law-abiding citizens from seeking a weapon 
legally for protection, sport, or personal collection from buying a 
gun. Had we passed the legislation including the amendment offered by 
Representative Dingell there would have been 17,000 people allowed to 
purchase guns who would not have been able to under current law.
  I support maintaining the Brady Law background checks in order to 
prevent criminals and children from buying guns. It is safe to say that 
those who do not have access to guns and have the will to strike out 
against others cannot shoot another person. We need to keep it that 
way.
  I am a mother and like all mothers I worry about my son's safety. He 
should not be at risk from friends who could buy a gun through the 
loophole in the gun show law. I support true and meaningful gun safety 
legislation, not taking guns away from law-abiding citizens.
  Ms. DeLauro. Mr. Speaker, let us protect our children. Gun violence 
is not a partisan issue. American children deserve no less.

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