[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 20 (Tuesday, February 29, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H513-H514]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      CREATING LIVABLE COMMUNITIES

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, a livable community is one where our 
families are safe, healthy, and economically secure. The Federal 
Government has an obligation to be the best partner it can in helping 
create and maintain livable communities. A critical element in creating 
the climate in which a livable community can thrive is reducing the 
threat of gun violence.
  Since Richard Nixon was President of the United States, over a 
million Americans have lost their lives to gun violence. This is more 
than all the deaths in all the American wars since the Civil War. For 
every gun death, there are three to four injuries.
  Mr. Speaker, this is clearly a major threat to the health of our 
communities. One hesitates to put a dollar cost on such tragedy, but 
the fact is gun deaths are the most expensive trauma-related deaths, 
costing over a third of a million dollars.
  For each child shot by a gun, those injuries total what it would take 
to send them to college for a year. The total costs are over $4 billion 
a year. If we add all of the indirect costs, lost of productivity, it 
is over $100 billion by some estimates. It is important to note that no 
family today is safe from gun violence, whether it is in Jonesboro, 
Arkansas, whether it is in the high school in Columbine, Colorado, in 
my State of Oregon, in Springfield.
  Mr. Speaker, this morning, as I was walking to this Chamber, I was 
given a notice that in Mount Morris Township, Michigan, this morning a 
first grader was shot by another pupil, a first grade child.
  It is important for us to not be paralyzed in this Chamber and assume 
there is nothing we can do to reduce gun violence. There are a number 
of simple commonsense steps. I hope that the leadership in this Chamber 
will bring forward simple, commonsense gun violence provisions that 
passed the Senate and should find their way to the floor of this House.
  There are other examples of what we can do. Yesterday's Washington 
Post had an article about the smart gun technology that the Clinton 
administration has proposed to invest in, a gun that can only be fired 
by one authorized person. In Maryland, Governor Glendening is proposing 
that there only be sold smart guns in 3 years.
  Both of these proposals have merit and deserve serious attention by 
Congress and the Maryland Legislature. But there is another area that 
requires no massive legislation. And that is simple, for the Federal 
Government to lead by example to do what we are asking the rest of 
America to do.
  Mr. Speaker, every year, the government purchases thousands of 
weapons for the men and women in law enforcement. If we decreed that 
only smart guns would be purchased from this point forward, we could 
use the market forces, the vast potential for sales to government to 
encourage, to incent the private sector to provide that need.
  This is critical for men and women in law enforcement. One out of 
every six law enforcement officials who dies in the line of duty is 
killed by their own service revolver or by a service revolver of one of 
their colleagues. It would build a market for smart gun technology. It 
would send a signal that it is safe enough and important enough for law 
enforcement, that it is the right thing to do for private citizens.

[[Page H514]]

  Every day in the United States, over a million children go home to 
homes where there are loaded guns that they have access to. There are 
over a third of a million firearm deaths every year in this country. If 
we take the simple, common sense approach to have smart gun technology 
available, we can make a significant step towards reducing that 
carnage. For the Federal Government, to lead by example, by putting its 
money where our mouth is, would be an important step.
  Mr. Speaker, and last, and by no means least, as I mentioned, I do 
hope that the leadership in this assembly will enable us to vote on the 
Senate-passed provisions to take those simple steps towards safe gun 
storage, reducing the magazine size for automatic weapons to 10 or 
fewer bullets, and having background checks at gun shows. These are 
things that can make our families safer, healthier, and more 
economically secure.

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