[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 91 (Thursday, June 24, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S7587]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        CHILD ACCESS PREVENTION

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, as the 1999 school year came to a close, 
our Nation was shocked by the incidences of school violence that 
claimed so many lives. In the aftermath of these tragedies, Americans 
have become more sensitized to the dangers of guns and the easy access 
that children have to them. Yet, despite this additional scrutiny by 
parents, guns continue to claim the lives of young people. Each day, 
more children are dying, not just in schoolyards, but in the home. They 
are killed by guns in unintentional shootings.
  Unintentional shootings are among the leading causes of death for 
young people. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 
each day at least one person under the age of 19 is killed by an 
unintentional shooting. Unsafe guns are an enormous danger to these 
young people, who are the victims of 33 percent of all accidental 
firearm deaths. And in Michigan, people under the age of 19 make up 
more than 50 percent of the fatalities caused by unintentional 
shootings.
  Unintentional shootings almost always occur at home, when a child 
finds a loaded weapon and while playing with it, shoots himself, a 
sibling, or a young friend. Some parents try to take precautions 
against these tragedies by hiding their firearm in a drawer, a closet 
or even under the mattress. Unfortunately, if it is loaded or without a 
safety lock, it does not matter where that gun is hidden. It has the 
potential to kill, and for hundreds of kids each year, it does just 
that.
  Daily shootings resulting from the careless storage of guns can 
easily be prevented. Locking devices for guns are simple to handle and 
inexpensive, but they must be used. In the Juvenile Justice bill that 
passed the Senate just a few weeks ago, an amendment was included that 
would require all sales, deliveries or transfers of handguns to include 
a secure gun storage or safety device, which was a step in the right 
direction. But, there was nothing to require that adults, especially 
with children in the house, use those safety devices. Safe storage 
laws, or Child Access Prevention, CAP, laws are needed to ensure that 
adults store loaded guns with safety devices in place and in locations 
reasonably inaccessible to children.
  There is no doubt that owning a firearm requires precaution and 
responsibility, especially when young children are around. CAP laws 
hold adults criminally responsible if a loaded firearm was left where 
it could be reasonably accessed by a juvenile, and the juvenile uses or 
brings into public the adult's firearm without the permission of his 
parent or guardian. Criminal liability would not apply to adults who 
have no reasonable expectation of having a juvenile on their premises 
or if a juvenile obtains a firearm as a result of an unlawful entry. 
CAP laws simply require adults to use common sense safety measures, 
such as secure gun storage devices or trigger locks for their firearms.
  Currently, there are 16 States that have enacted CAP laws. And since 
the first law took effect 10 years ago, state CAP laws have reduced 
unintentional deaths of children by firearms on an average of 23 
percent. In Florida, just one year after CAP was enacted, unintentional 
shootings dropped more than 50 percent. And for every state that has 
enacted a safe storage law, there is compelling evidence that because 
of CAP, children are safer at home.
  Despite these successes, there are still an overwhelming number of 
states, including Michigan, without CAP laws. And until there is 
awareness that guns should be locked up and stored unloaded, guns will 
continue to claim the lives of innocent children. Until CAP or safe 
storage laws are the law of the land, people will continue to learn the 
hard way that the guns in their home meant for protection will continue 
to claim the lives of those they are trying to protect.

                          ____________________