[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 21 (Wednesday, March 1, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H578]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               GUN SAFETY

  (Ms. DeGETTE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeGETTE. Mr. Speaker, another tragedy has struck. Yesterday, a 
little girl in Michigan was shot and killed by one of her classmates, a 
6-year-old boy. A 6 year old, Mr. Speaker. And the question we are all 
asking ourselves today is, ``How in the heck did a little 6-year-old 
boy get a gun?''
  If anybody watched the footage of this on the news last night, they 
saw a scene that has become all too familiar in this country: A school 
being evacuated, teachers leading frightened children to safety, 
sobbing parents frantically looking for their children and, at the end 
of the day, another dead child, another victim of gun violence.
  Yes, Mr. Speaker, another tragedy has struck, but still Congress does 
nothing to keep guns out of the hands of kids and out of the hands of 
criminals. This is not the year 1900, this is the year 2000. We have a 
crisis in this country and Congress is going to go home again today, 
not to come back until next week, still having done nothing to pass 
common sense child gun safety.

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