[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 107 (Tuesday, July 27, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H6568-H6571]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2215
                    REVIEW OF FORUM ON GUN VIOLENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Tancredo). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 6, 1999, the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. 
Schakowsky) is recognized for half the time until midnight as the 
designee of the minority leader.
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, yesterday in Chicago I hosted the first 
of 16 women's forums on gun violence that will be conducted by 
Democratic women Members of Congress. The goal of these forums is to 
develop strategies and build grassroots movements to pass sensible gun 
safety legislation this year.
  I will tell my colleagues more about this event, Mr. Speaker, during 
the hour and how much all of us, men and women alike, hope these forums 
will contribute to making our country safer for our children and our 
grandchildren.
  When discussing gun safety legislation, it is easy for us here in 
Washington to get lost in all the many intricacies of this subject. We 
can argue fine points of the law, the real meaning of the second 
amendment to the Constitution, the difference between a 3-day waiting 
period and a 72-hour waiting period. We can talk about the features of 
different weapons and ammunition clips and demonstrate our knowledge of 
the hardware. But for most Americans, it comes down to this. Is my 
child safe on her way to school? Can I stroll in my neighborhood on a 
beautiful summer evening? Is it safe for me to walk home from the 
synagogue after services or from church? No one is secure enough in our 
country anymore to answer ``yes.''
  After the tragedy at Columbine High School and the shootings and 
killing in my district during the Fourth of July weekend, Americans are 
asking, what does it take? What does it take before something is done 
in the United States Congress? How many children have to die? How many 
parents must prepare for another funeral?
  We want to talk to you tonight as mothers and as grandmothers. This 
is about my granddaughter Isabelle and about the horror of gun violence 
and the simple steps that we can take to reduce it. We know that 
legislation will not eliminate it, but just ask the devastated families 
of victims if stopping the killing of even one child is not worth it.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice 
Johnson).
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the Juvenile Justice 
bill passed long ago, and the House still has not appointed conferees. 
This legislation and its accompanying gun safety provisions are vitally 
important to all American families.
  Each day in America, 14 kids age 19 and under are killed by guns. In 
1996, almost 5,000 juveniles were killed with a firearm. In 1997, 84 
percent of murder victims age 13 to 19 were killed with a firearm. 
Fifty-nine percent of students in grades 6 through 12 know where to get 
a gun if they want one, and two-thirds of these students say they can 
acquire a firearm within 24 hours.
  Kids and guns do not mix. Yet the Republican leadership refused to 
consider common-sense gun safety measures that would only serve to 
protect our kids. It is far too easy for kids to get and use guns. 
Trigger locks, or locked safety boxes, would keep this from happening.
  We have continually passed up the opportunity to act on this vitally 
important issue. I urge the Republican

[[Page H6569]]

 leadership to move to appoint conferees before we lose another child.
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. I think that the gentlewoman has expressed the kind 
of impatience that many Americans are feeling right now. They want to 
know when we are going to do something. That is particularly true right 
now of the residents in my district, who are just beginning the healing 
process after having suffered the violence of hate over the Fourth of 
July weekend.
  I want to put a face to one of the victims of gun violence. Ricky 
Byrdsong was a former basketball coach at Northwestern University. He 
was a father, a community leader, and an inspiration to his family and 
all those who knew him, a deeply religious man. Ricky Byrdsong was 
committed to a cause, and his cause was to help underprivileged youth 
reach their full potential and follow their dreams. His work took him 
to neighborhoods where violence was all too common a feature of 
everyday life. He lived with his wife and three children in Skokie, 
Illinois, a quiet community of ordinary homes and bungalows, quiet 
streets, good schools, and he once commented to a friend on how happy 
he was to live in a safe neighborhood. He did not have to worry about 
his kids being hurt. He did not have to worry about the violence that 
is so common in other neighborhoods. He was happy to live in the 
peaceful community of Skokie, Illinois.
  But that all changed on Friday, July 2nd, when Benjamin Smith 
murdered Ricky Byrdsong when he was outside playing with his children. 
He was killed because of the color of his skin. And Mr. Byrdsong was 
not the first target that night of Benjamin Smith's hate. Six men were 
shot in Rogers Park. They were walking home from synagogue, they were 
orthodox Jewish men who were praying that evening. It was a warm summer 
evening as they walked home. Twenty bullets found their way into six 
people that night. It is only a miracle really that none of those 
people was killed. The mother of one of those victims said, ``This was 
not just hate. This is what happens when hate is given a gun.''
  Dr. Michael Messing was another victim that night. He and his son 
were the first people who were shot at that evening. He and his son 
were walking home and he described this at the forum that I held 
yesterday how Benjamin Smith actually stopped his car, got out and 
pointed his gun at Dr. Messing and he knew that right away he had to 
flee, that this was clearly a dangerous situation, he was shot at, his 
son was shot at, and again miraculously the bullets missed him. But he 
stood there to watch his neighbor down the street get shot and suddenly 
from victim, he turned into physician and ran down the street to care 
for them.
  He faxed me a statement today that said:
       ``As a recent victim of Benjamin Smith's anti-Semitic and 
     racist shooting spree, I implore you, our leaders in 
     Congress, to pass the necessary legislation on gun control 
     which would inhibit easy access to weapons for criminals. In 
     doing so, you will create a safer, healthier and more 
     optimistic future for our country. If you fail to do so, my 
     living nightmare might one day become yours as well.

  You can imagine what a nightmare that is to be with your son and 
friends walking home and being shot at on the streets of your 
community.
  Littleton, Colorado; Rogers Park in Skokie, Illinois; Bloomington, 
Indiana; Springfield, Oregon; Fayetteville, Tennessee; Edinboro, 
Pennsylvania; Jonesboro, Arkansas; West Paducah, Kentucky; and Pearl, 
Mississippi. Is your hometown next, Mr. Speaker? No one knows for sure.
  At the forum yesterday, a number of incredible people testified. They 
are victims of gun violence that perhaps gave the most dramatic 
testimony of all.
  One was Maureen Young, who comes from my town of Evanston, Illinois. 
She spoke about her 18-year-old son who was shot in the heart by a 
person who was told to kill someone for their gang initiation. As she 
was speaking, she held up the printout from the hospital heart monitor 
that showed her son's flat line. She held up that tape that showed the 
flat line on the heart monitor that indicated that her son was dead. 
And she said, ``How many mothers are going to have to come home from 
the hospital with a tape like this indicating that their child has 
died?''

  Mrs. Young is one of many victims, many mothers, many fathers, who 
has turned their own personal tragedy into a crusade, and now she is a 
leader in the Bell Campaign, a campaign designed to wake up America, to 
organize victims and people who care about those victims into a 
grassroots campaign to make this Congress more afraid of people who 
want sensible gun safety legislation than they are from the small 
minority of people who resist passing even the most sensible and simple 
pieces of legislation.
  It is hard to imagine what Maureen Young has experienced. But there 
are an average of 13 mothers every single day who experience that. We 
talk about Columbine and Littleton, Colorado, because it is a community 
where we do not expect some things like this to happen, just like 
Skokie, Illinois, and Rogers Park, Illinois. But 13 mothers every day 
experience the same kind of horror. In my own little town, I have 
attended three funerals in the last year. I am tired of these funerals. 
I guess Ricky Byrdsong's funeral makes four.
  Mark Carlin, President of the Board of Directors of the Illinois 
Council Against Handgun Violence, urged us to apply the same common-
sense practices that we apply to cars to guns. Why can we not treat 
guns with the same common-sense regulation as we do our cars? Are we 
any less free because our car is registered?
  He talked about transferring the registration of his father's 
automobile to himself and how he had to go down and fill out the 
paperwork. And no one would question that that is not a good thing to 
do. He talked about the fact that we have to get a driver's license and 
renew that driver's license, and why is it not that every single gun 
owner does not need to register for that gun? We would not think of 
saying people should drive a car without a driver's license. And he 
said, ``What is more sacred in our culture than the automobile?'' It 
defines us in some ways, our mobility, our freedom, our independence, 
and yet we understand that automobiles and drivers are heavily 
regulated. And yet not guns.
  The gun lobby says guns are somehow a sacred object, that it should 
escape all that kind of regulation.
  At the forum yesterday, I held up a TEC-9 in one hand and a baby 
rattle in the other hand. Baby rattles are governed by the Consumer 
Product Safety Commission. We have laws about it. We have laws about 
how big the parts are in toys that we give to our children. Guns are 
exempt from regulation by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Why 
is that? It is one of the only products, I think it is the only 
consumer product that is exempt from that kind of regulation. So Mark 
Carlin was saying, let us at least treat guns with the same respect, if 
you will, as we do our automobiles.
  We had Dr. Kathryn Coffer Christophel who is a respected pediatrician 
at Children's Memorial Hospital and also an expert on gun safety 
approaching it as a health issue, reframing this debate as a public 
health crisis.

                              {time}  2230

  She talks about how every year over $1 billion is spent on medical 
costs associated with the treatment of individuals who have been shot. 
Of course, these dollar figures do not take into account the lost 
earnings to their families while they are recuperating. She pointed to 
a chart that we had there yesterday that showed that in 1996 there were 
15 handgun murders in Japan, 15 in the whole nation in the whole year. 
Thirty handgun murders in Great Britain, Mr. Speaker; 106 in Canada; 
213 in Germany; and 9,390 in the United States.
  She said, if we looked at that chart and we were talking about a 
disease, a virus or a bacteria, and we saw how many people were 
afflicted in the United States, is there any question in our minds that 
we would say, what are these other nations doing? They seem to have 
conquered this epidemic, or dramatically reduced it. What are they 
doing that we are not doing to confront this health crisis. And the 
answer is really very simple. They have far tougher gun laws. Oh, we 
may want to bring in all other kinds of cultural issues and maybe they 
affect some few cases. By and large, the explanation for the difference 
is we have more guns.

[[Page H6570]]

  Mr. Speaker, we heard from a remarkable young man, Albert Smith, who 
just graduated from Evanston Township High School and his family also 
was touched by a gun-related tragedy in which a member of his family 
was killed. Albert really does not like to go into details about the 
tragedy that struck his family, but what he likes to talk about is how 
it spurred him into action on antiviolence issues, including gun 
control.
  What Albert did was organize a conference on violence and gun control 
at Evanston Township High School in May which included the U.S. 
attorney from Massachusetts who came to talk about strategies that they 
had developed to reduce gun violence, particularly among youth, where 
they had a long period, I think over 2 years, where not a single child 
in the City of Boston was lost to gun violence, a coordinated strategy 
of prevention and control.
  Albert had just one simple challenge for all of us who were gathered 
yesterday and that is, what are you going to do about it? What are you 
going to do about it? What are we going to do about it?
  I have received, as I am sure many, many Members of Congress have, 
letters from my constituents, letters that tell sad stories and cry out 
for help, and tell about fear, tell about the fear now of ordinary kids 
that are afraid to go to school who now think yes, indeed, it could 
happen to me.

       Dear Representative Schakowsky: Hello. I am currently a 
     high school student at Niles West. I know that I am not old 
     enough to vote for anything, but I would appreciate if you 
     would take the time to consider what I had to say. I think 
     that there should be stricter laws about guns.
       Too many kids are getting their hands on guns. I don't know 
     how, but there should be a way to keep guns off the streets. 
     In the Colorado shooting, those kids had some big firearms. 
     How did these kids get their hands on such guns? I am not 
     sure that I feel safe in school, ever since the Colorado 
     shooting. If, by chance, this topic comes up,

and I hope, Mr. Speaker, that my colleagues are listening to that. This 
child from Illinois is saying,

     If, by chance, this topic comes up, please vote for stricter 
     laws against guns. I heard too many stories about little kids 
     and guns, and I am afraid that someone I care about might get 
     hurt by a gun. I thank you for taking your time to listen to 
     what I say.

And I hope that all of us here, Mr. Speaker, will take time to listen 
to what this student had to say.
  Another:

       Like most people, I have been disturbed by the rising 
     violence in our lives. But Littleton really brings it home. 
     It seems ridiculous to me that guns can be picked up at gun 
     shows without even a background check. It is even worse that 
     people not old enough to legally drink beer can buy assault 
     rifles. Why aren't guns regulated for safety, like every 
     other consumer product? Thousands of children could be saved 
     from disability or death by simple child safety standards for 
     handguns.

  Yesterday at this forum, I also held up a TEC-9 and a child safety 
lock. For $5 or $6, one can get a lock that will be put on guns that 
will prevent the accidental shooting of children. Let me tell my 
colleagues a few of those stories.
  In Florida in 1999, an 11-year-old boy got angry with his 13-year-old 
sister. He went to a closet at home, took out a gun his parents kept 
there and killed his sister. The gun was in an unlocked box, was next 
to the ammunition, and had no trigger guard.
  In Tennessee in May in 1998, a 5-year-old boy found a loaded hand gun 
on his grandfather's dresser and carried it to school, threatening to 
kill his teacher and classmates.
  In Cleveland, a 13-year-old boy took his father's unsecured handgun 
and killed himself while playing Russian roulette. The city prosecutor 
brought charges against the boy's father for violating the ordinance 
that prohibits minors from having access to a gun.
  In Florida, a 14-year-old boy found his father's gun in a closet and 
shot a playmate in the head after school. The victim lives, but 
suffers, as we can imagine, from medical problems as a result.
  This is one of the sensible gun safety measures that was passed by 
the Senate to require a child safety lock on every weapon. Why not? Why 
not, America is asking us. We talk about closing the loophole in the 
Brady Bill and requiring background checks at gun shows.
  Mr. Speaker, Benjamin Smith, who terrorized my community and then 
killed two people and then himself, and we can talk about the hate 
groups that he was associated with and hate Web sites on the Internet, 
and we should. But Benjamin Smith again was able to convert this hatred 
into violence.
  Now, he went to buy a weapon and was turned down because he had an 
order of protection against him, and fortunately that turned up in his 
background check. What he did was go to an illegal gun dealer, someone 
who had legally purchased an arsenal of weapons. If we had had 
legislation that said that only one gun a month could be purchased, 
this illegal gun dealer would not have been able to have this arsenal 
that Ben Smith was able then to buy two guns from this man.
  We need to do sensible things. The gun show loophole is another place 
Ben Smith could have gone to a gun show to purchase those guns, and if 
he would have found an unlicensed dealer, he could have bought his guns 
there too. He would have been able to purchase those guns and murder 
two people in a way that was not intended when we first passed the 
Brady law. How many lives would be saved if we would close that simple 
gun show loophole?
  When the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. McCarthy) stood on the floor 
of this House and said, ``All we want to do is keep guns out of the 
hands of criminals,'' let me just quote from her. She said, ``That is 
all I am trying to do. My amendment closes a loophole. I am trying to 
stop the criminals from being able to get guns. That is all I am trying 
to do.'' And she said, ``This is not a game to me. This is not a game 
to the American people.''
  Mr. Speaker, this is our colleague, a woman from New York, a hero in 
the battle for gun safety legislation and someone herself who has 
experienced the tragedy in her own family.
  America is asking us to do something. Let me just refer my colleagues 
to an editorial, Mr. Speaker, that appeared June 20 in the Chicago 
Tribune. It says, ``The statute of limitations on responsibility in the 
United States House of Representatives expired after 59 days, just 59 
days after two students shot up Columbine High School in Colorado. The 
House decided that more dead children is the price to pay to protect 
the national gun lobby.''
  And the Chicago Tribune again, on July 18 said, ``Last weekend, a 
bigot with a heart full of hate, a couple of guns and a load of ammo 
left a trail of blood through Illinois and Indiana. This week, 
congressional conferees from the House and Senate will start to decide 
whether the country needs tighter gun control laws.''
  Mr. Speaker, I only wish that had been true. I only wish that 
conferees had been appointed and that they were starting to decide 
whether we need tighter gun laws.
  The editorial goes on, ``Poll after poll has shown that Americans 
want to close the loopholes in the existing gun laws governing the sale 
and use of firearms, but Members of the House who flatly rejected 
meaningful gun control legislation last month are not listening to the 
polls, they are listening to the National Rifle Association.''
  Let us review in closing, Mr. Speaker, the three simple measures that 
the Senate passed that we hope will become the law of the land, that we 
hope that the Speaker will appoint conferees, that we can get down to 
the business that the American people are asking us to do. Those three 
things are: close the loophole in the Brady Bill, the gun show 
loophole; the second is to require child safety locks; and the third is 
to ban, another loophole, ban the importation of high capacity 
ammunition clips.
  If we do those things, we will have made the first small step in 
addressing the concerns of the Americans for their own safety, for the 
safety of their children. We will be saying to the American people that 
we want your children to be able to walk to school and be in school in 
safety. We want you to feel safe in your neighborhoods. We do not want 
another child to die; we do not want another police officer to die. We 
want to address this problem in our country, and we are going to make 
those first steps. Let us do it, Mr. Speaker. Let us do it soon.
  Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Mr. Speaker, in the last few months and years, a 
series of tragic events has made it clear that there are serious 
shortcomings in our gun laws that must be addressed. The U.S. Senate, 
after lengthy consideration, finally passed a bipartisan measure

[[Page H6571]]

that would begin to close loopholes that have too often resulted in 
guns getting into the wrong hands by allowing vendors at gun shows and 
flea markets to sell firearms without conducting background checks. The 
Senate is to be applauded for this action. The Senate had the courage 
to pass a bill that dealt with the issue of juvenile justice and gun 
violence in a sensible and thoughtful manner.
  In the House, that same courage appeared to be lacking in too many of 
our colleagues. As a mother of five and grandmother of thirteen, I 
empathize with the families who lost children in Littleton, Colorado 
and with the thousands of other families across this nation who have 
seen violent crime rob them of their loved ones. These are losses that 
can never be forgotten and that leave a lasting void no one can fill.
  Unfortunately, the American people were the big losers in the debate 
on the House floor over gun safety last month. Hours of floor debate 
over three days and nights produced nothing that can comfort those who 
have already lost a family member to gun violence and provided no real 
meaningful measures to ensure the future safety of our children.
  The fight for sensible gun control is not over. Those of us who 
believe in closing gun loopholes will continue our efforts. Three 
months ago, I spoke to many members of Family and Friends of Murder 
Victims assembled in Rose Hills Memorial Park to honor their slain 
loved ones during Victims Rights Week. I pledged to them that I would 
work to ensure we establish laws and programs that help prevent the 
additional loss of innocent lives and to strengthen victims' rights. I 
intend to keep that pledge.
  Let us look at the facts: In the five years that the Brady Bill has 
been in effect, requiring a three business-day waiting period for a gun 
purchase, more than 400,000 illegal gun sales, two-thirds of which 
involved either convicted felons or people with a current felony 
indictment, were blocked. This is clear evidence that this law works 
and that we are on the right path.
  However, we still have far to go. Studies show that one in four gun 
murders are committed by people aged 18 to 20. Furthermore, about two-
thirds of all homicides involve the use of a gun. Also consider that 
domestic violence often turns into homicide in many instances where 
guns are readily available, and that law enforcement officials support 
gun safety because it saves police officers' lives.
  These facts demand our immediate attention. It is no wonder that a 
recent Pew Research survey found that 65% of the nation believes gun 
control is more important than the right to bear arms. Similarly, a 
Gallup Poll shows that 79% of Americans support mandatory registration 
of all firearms.
  I wholeheartedly support a rational gun safety policy to close 
loopholes that have allowed too many individuals to skirt laws designed 
to prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands--often the hands of 
felons or minors.
  We should strengthen the Brady law and fight for new gun safety 
measures that include: a three business-day waiting period to complete 
background checks on people buying guns at gun shows and flea markets--
just like sales at retail outlets; banning the import of large-capacity 
ammunitions clips; raising the national age of handgun ownership from 
18 to 21; gun safety locks to accompany all new firearm sales; and 
preventing serious juvenile felons from ever owning guns.
  We can achieve all of this if the members of the House have the will 
and the American people make it clear to their representatives that 
they demand action on gun safety. Let us stop the delay. Let us pass 
meaningful gun safety legislation.

                          ____________________