[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 21 (Wednesday, March 1, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H611-H612]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    GUN SAFETY AND THE CONSTITUTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I would like to associate 
myself with the remarks of the gentlewoman from Indiana.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise on the floor of the House today to offer my 
sympathies for those who are now in danger in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 
held hostage, at least as of the last notice that we received, by 
someone holding innocent individuals hostage with a gun. Several of 
these individuals have been shot, and that area is in crisis.
  Additionally, of course, yesterday I think America got either a wake-
up call or one of the most shocking exposures to gun violence that we 
have had I would say in the last 20 years, even as we watched the 
little, small children run to safety in California with a crazed gunman 
at the Jewish Community Center, a hateful act with a gun.
  But here we find in Michigan that it was not an adult, it was not a 
15-year-old, it was not a teenager, an adolescent, but it was a 6-year-
old little boy that shot a little girl in the neck with a gun that 
apparently he secured from his home, a home that, as news reports have 
indicated, was not the best and most supportive situation for a child.
  Without commenting on the support system that that family needs and 
the crisis and the ultimate criminal procedures that will follow, or 
whether or not there will be indictments of those parents, and what 
will happen in this situation in Pittsburgh, the question has to come, 
what now, America? What will this Congress do? What have we delayed in 
doing?
  I can tell the Members that as a member of the Committee on the 
Judiciary and a member of the conference

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committee set up last year, 1999, to deal with gun safety and juvenile 
justice, we have yet to have another meeting. The first meeting ended 
with disagreement and opening statements, but no action.
  I would commend to my colleagues, for those who argue vigorously 
about the privileges of the Constitution in the second amendment, I 
would argue for them to understand the Constitution as a living 
document.
  The Second Amendment was drafted and promoted at a time that this was 
an embryonic country. It was a beginning Nation. It was a Nation that 
feared to be taken over by those who had once been its colonizer, if 
you will. The Second Amendment related to a well-armed militia. I have 
no problem with people legally retaining their guns in their homes, but 
I do have a problem with criminals getting guns.
  It is tragic that the House conference committee has not seen fit to 
meet and to deal with what America wants us to do: one, reasonable, 
safe gun safety laws; two, to close the loopholes so criminals do not 
get guns, so a little baby 6 years old does not have the opportunity, 
in a home that may not be the best, that may have a criminal element, 
to access a gun.
  Mr. Speaker, it is extremely tragic that we would have a situation 
where a child accessed a gun. What can we say about that, other than 
that we have not done our job? We must do our job. We must pass safety 
legislation that deals with trigger locks, that deals with smart guns, 
and we must find a way to convene and do what America desires us to do.
  How many more killings will we see? How many more of those who are 
either deranged, needing mental assistance? How many more persons will 
we have suffering and losing their lives because we have not done our 
job?
  Mr. Speaker, I think that in this instance all we can do is pray, but 
I think that what we can do in the future is to meet, and to be assured 
that as we meet, we have this committee that will find itself in its 
heart and in its mind to pass real gun safety legislation so that a 6-
year-old does not have access to guns.
  Mr. Speaker, to conclude my remarks, let me say that I hope that the 
conference committee will find its way to meet. If it meets, I hope we 
will find our way to vote for real gun safety legislation.

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