[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 164 (Thursday, November 18, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14771-S14772]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         JUVENILE JUSTICE BILL

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, today is November 18. It has been 
almost 6 months since the Senate passed the juvenile justice bill and 
more than 5 months since the House followed suit with its own 
legislation.
  Since that time, the students at Columbine High School went home. 
They spent a summer trying to heal the wounds of one of our Nation's 
greatest tragedies, and they returned to school more than 2 months ago.
  Many of those students touched by the tragedy even came to Washington 
to plead for our help. Yet this body has done nothing to stop future 
incidents of gun violence and nothing to fix our broken juvenile 
justice system.
  The Columbine incident shocked this Nation and, I believe, this 
Congress. Watching events unfold on television made even the most 
skeptical observers realize that something should be done about gun 
violence. We have witnessed a number of other instances of gun violence 
in the media since then. In Atlanta, we saw a depressed day trader gun 
down his family and colleagues. In California, a bigot killed a postal 
worker just because he was Filipino, and then wounded five others in 
the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills. Again, the 
pictures of those young children being led away from the scene of the 
tragedy were heart wrenching.
  But since Columbine, more than 2,000 more children have died from 
gunshot wounds, about 12 to 13 a day, in incidents of gun violence that 
go relatively unreported and with outcomes not so public. These 
incidents will never stop until we do something to stop them. The death 
rate will never be diminished unless we stand up and take action.
  When will the Congress realize that the time has come to move 
forward? The conference committee, which was appointed at the last 
minute before the August recess, has met but once, over 3 months ago. 
No issues have been resolved. The entire juvenile justice bill remains 
in doubt, in limbo.
  Democrats in both Houses have been ready and willing to meet for 
months. Democrats are ready to discuss the merits of our differences 
and to reconcile them. The time has come to stop running away from the 
issue of gun violence. The time has come to enact some meaningful 
provisions to stem this tide of violence sweeping our schools and to 
institute some much-needed change to the system of juvenile justice in 
this Nation.
  The Senate spent more than a week in May debating and voting on 
dozens of provisions to stem the tide of youth violence in this country 
and to try to curb the flood of guns reaching children and criminals. 
But still we have faced delay after delay, and the delays come in many 
forms--political maneuvering, parliamentary tactics; for example, my 
clip ban was blue slipped, and other tactics.
  Enough is enough. It is time to come together to make some tough 
decisions and move forward with the Nation's business. No longer can we 
stand by, and I hope the Nation will not let us stand by, to allow the 
National Rifle Association to dictate the legislative needs of this 
Congress. The future of this bill rests squarely with the Republican 
leadership in both the House and

[[Page S14772]]

the Senate. They have said they want to make progress with our gun 
laws, and they have it within their power to do so.
  The Senate-passed juvenile justice bill is not an overreaching 
statement of where we want to go with gun control. I, for example, 
believe we should have universal registration and licensing of 
firearms, and in the next session I will introduce my legislation. I 
believe we should allow the Federal Government to set safety and 
consumer standards for guns, and I believe we should ban outright 
possession of military-style assault weapons. But none of these 
measures were even discussed in the Senate debate.
  The provisions, rather, are very small in our bill. They are 
reasonable, and they can make a difference in the lives of our 
children. None of them are controversial, and every one of them, by 
virtually every poll, has a dominant majority of the American people 
supporting them. Let me describe what I am talking about.
  That bill contains just four commonsense provisions to address gun 
violence. Does anyone in this Nation truly believe juveniles should be 
able to buy assault weapons? The answer is going to be no. That is one 
provision in Senator Ashcroft's bill which would prohibit juveniles 
from possessing assault weapons.
  Does anyone in this country truly believe the children from Columbine 
who went to a gun show and bought two assault weapons as juveniles with 
no information, no data check, no nothing--does anyone believe that 
loophole should not be closed? I do not believe so.
  In Memphis, TN, not too long ago, a 5-year-old took a pistol off his 
grandfather's bureau and brought it to kindergarten to kill the teacher 
because the teacher had given that child a timeout the day before. 
Stories are legion about children mistaking real guns for play guns and 
shooting their friends.
  The third provision is simple. It would require a safety lock with 
every gun sold. Does anyone believe guns should not be sold without 
safety locks? I do not believe so.

  Finally, there is my provision which would plug a major loophole in 
the 1994 assault weapons legislation. That legislation, in fact, says 
you cannot today manufacture, transfer, sell, or possess a clip, drum, 
or strip of more than 10 bullets manufactured in the United States. 
That is the law today. The loophole is to permit the foreign 
importation of these clips, and they are coming into this country by 
the tens of millions with literally tens of thousands of them in drums 
of 250 rounds. They come in, as a matter of fact, from the United 
Kingdom, and they come in from 20 different countries throughout the 
world.
  My provision would simply close that loophole and prohibit the 
importation. It actually passed the House by unanimous consent, and 
both the Speaker and the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee have 
assured me personally that they see no problem with it and would 
support it.
  These are the four provisions relating to guns. Other than that, this 
bill contains countless provisions to stem the tide of youth violence. 
I sit on the Judiciary Committee. I have worked on this bill. I have 
worked on it with Senator Hatch. Part of this bill is a gang abatement 
act. It provides a Federal helping hand to local law enforcement 
agencies to fight criminal street gangs that are now crossing State 
lines and moving into so many of the cities of our Nation. You, Mr. 
President, were mayor of a great city. You know this to be the fact. 
This is an important part of this legislation.
  It also contains the James Guelff Body Armor Act which contains 
reforms to take body armor out of the hands of criminals and put it in 
the hands of police. It is named after a San Francisco police officer 
by the name of James Guelff who went to a call at the corner of Pine 
and California Streets and came across a Kevlar-clad sniper with 
thousands of rounds of ammunition and a number of guns. He had a .38 
revolver. As he speed loaded his revolver, this officer was shot in the 
head and killed. It took 150 police officers to equal the firepower of 
one sniper clad in Kevlar with high-powered weapons.
  The Senate bill also establishes a new $700 million juvenile justice 
block grant program for States and localities, representing a 
significant increase in Federal aid to the States for juvenile crime 
control programs. These programs include additional law enforcement and 
juvenile court personnel, juvenile detention facilities, and prevention 
programs to keep juveniles out of trouble before they turn to crime, 
something both of us know, as past mayors, is vital if we are going to 
reverse juvenile crime in this country.
  The bill encourages increased accountability for juveniles, and it 
implements a series of graduated penalties that ensure that subsequent 
offenses are treated with increasing severity, so that if you are going 
to be a continuing offender, the sentences are going to reflect that.

  The bill also reforms juvenile record systems through improved record 
keeping and increased access to juvenile records by police, courts, and 
schools, so that a court or school dealing with a juvenile in my State, 
California, can know if they have committed violent offenses in 
Arizona, or a juvenile in your State, Ohio, had committed violent 
offenses in another surrounding State.
  It extends Federal sentences for juveniles who commit serious violent 
crimes.
  All of these commonsense provisions now remain in legislative 
purgatory. I am here to urge, once again, the majority to proceed with 
the conference, come to a compromise, and move this bill. That 
compromise should preserve intact the Senate-passed gun control 
legislation--four targeted measures--commonsense, reasonable; I call 
them no-brainers. Every poll shows a dominant majority of Americans 
supporting each of these. And they represent together a bare minimum of 
what we should do this year to stem the gun violence that is 
increasingly common on our streets and in our schools.
  School has now been back in session for several months, and this 
Congress is about to adjourn for the year. So far, it looks as if we 
are going to be receiving a failing grade from the American people. 
There is still time to buckle down, to do the work, to pass the test 
that this Nation gave us so many months ago. What a wonderful Christmas 
gift it would be for the people of America.
  I thank the Chair and yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Collins). The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business.
  Mr. BYRD. Reserving the right to object, and I will not object, would 
the Senator mind stating how long he wishes to speak?
  Mr. BAUCUS. I would be very happy to tell the Senator. Less than 10 
minutes.
  Mr. BYRD. I have no objection. I thank the Chair and thank the 
Senator.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BAUCUS. I thank the Senator.

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