[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 128 (Tuesday, September 28, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H8877]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         AN INNER CITY TRAGEDY

  (Ms. NORTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, no one should forget where the tragedy at 
Columbine began; not in the suburbs of Colorado, but in the streets of 
the inner cities, where guns were first made available like free lunch. 
Now, astonishingly and tragically, that is the case throughout America.
  On Friday evening a youngster, 17 years old, in the District, going 
to see his girlfriend, minding his own business, was shot on a bus by 
somebody who hoisted himself and shot him through the window. For 10 
minutes the bus rode and did not even know the kid had been shot.

                              {time}  1015

  This youngster is described by his teachers and all who knew him as 
an excellent student, talented and energetic. He was in the marching 
band at Ballou High School. He was on his way to Howard University next 
year. He participated in the Arthur Ashe tennis program. He is the kind 
of kid we are so pleased to see come out whole from the inner city.
  Mr. Speaker, guns are everywhere. They are in our districts. Please 
pass gun safety legislation before we go home this year.

                          ____________________