[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 150 (Friday, October 29, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S13544]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CHILDREN'S MARCH FOR GUN CONTROL

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, yesterday, students from around the country 
came to Washington to ask for help. Students participating in the 
Children's March for Gun Control marched hand-in-hand to Capitol Hill 
with a simple demand: to keep them safe from guns.
  Members of Congress should tune out the NRA, and start listening to 
these children--who have to face the fear of guns everyday. The 
children from across the country are pleading that Congress create an 
environment free from fear and violence. These children are armed, not 
with firearms, but with letters, urging Congress to end the epidemic of 
gun violence that claims the lives of thousands of their peers each 
year.
  Yet, while Congress should be passing comprehensive legislation to 
prevent school shootings like those in Conyers, Littleton, Springfield, 
Edinboro, Jonesboro, West Paducah, Pearl and the many others, it cannot 
even muster enough votes to take UZIs and AK-47s out of the hands of 15 
year olds. After Columbine, the Senate took a few steps to protect 
children from gun violence. We passed legislation to prohibit juveniles 
from owning semiautomatic weapons and large capacity ammunition 
devices. We passed an amendment to require that handguns be sold with 
trigger locking devices to protect children. And we passed an amendment 
to close the gun show loophole, ensuring juveniles and others cannot 
use these shows as a convenient way to circumvent the safeguards 
applied to normal sales through licensed gun dealers.
  That legislation was a first step, but it still falls short of 
closing loopholes which allow our youth easy access to deadly weapons. 
For example, one of our most important tasks yet will be to ban 
handguns and semiautomatic assault weapons for persons under 21 years 
of age. Yet, even the most minimal effort to end gun violence has been 
stymied in the House of Representatives, where they have passed no gun 
safety legislation. And any effort to come to some agreement has been 
repeatedly stalled by the Republican leadership.
  It was great to welcome such a group of dedicated young people to the 
nation's Capitol. I encourage them to keep up their effort and to speak 
out for those children who have been silenced by guns. Over time, these 
children are sure to accomplish what other nations have done: end the 
plague of gun violence.

                          ____________________