[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 32 (Tuesday, March 21, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H1155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             NIGHTSIDE CHAT ON TOPICS OF CONCERN TO AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 1999, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. McInnis) is 
recognized for 60 minutes.
  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, once again we are here this evening for a 
little nightside chat. There are a number of different subjects I would 
like to cover this evening.
  I would like to start out by talking about the loss of a good friend 
that I had last week, just a short comment in that regard. We are going 
to move on and talk about the Congressional Medal of Honor. We lost one 
of our heroes. If you want a true definition of hero, take a look at 
the people that serve in our military forces. We lost one in Colorado. 
I will talk a little about him. Then I want to move on and talk about 
the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms people.
  We had a very interesting item in Colorado over the weekend about the 
enforcement, or lack of enforcement, by the Alcohol, Tobacco and 
Firearms department in their inspections regarding firearms sales. As 
you know, across the country guns have become somewhat of a sensitive 
issue.
  Now, last week when I addressed you, we talked a little on Operation 
Exile. I know that my colleague, the gentleman from the State of 
Florida (Mr. McCollum), is going to introduce a bill tomorrow to assist 
our local States and our local communities on their Project Exile, so 
we will highlight a little of what he is attempting to do. We will talk 
about our public awareness campaign and talk about some of the 
responsibilities of gun ownership.
  Then, if we have some time this evening, I would like to touch again 
on the death tax. As many of you know, that is a very punitive tax in 
our system. It is a tax that has devastating impacts on small 
businesses, has devastating impacts on farms and ranches across the 
country; and, frankly, this is not a justified tax.
  It is a tax supported by the administration. In fact, the 
administration has proposed a $9.5 billion increase in the death tax 
this year. I am confident that we can stop that. But just so you no, 
there is a big difference of opinion on the policy of the Democratic 
administration to raise death taxes and our position on the Republican 
side that says death taxes are fundamentally unfair, they are 
unjustified, and they should be eliminated in this country.
  But we will get to all that in due time. Let us start first of all 
with just a comment about a friend of mine, a classmate of mine, a 
fellow named Richard. I will not go into his last name, but I want to 
tell Members, my friend committed suicide last week.
  I hope that in your walks of life, sometimes we get so busy that we 
forget that some people have some demons within them that they cannot 
control, that they are having a difficult time with life.
  What I try and do, and it just came back home this last week when I 
was at the service of this gentleman, and he really was, I think he had 
some demons he could not control; but it brought back the thought that, 
gosh, any time we see somebody in some despair, we should always urge 
them, before they take that step, that ultimate and in some regards 
very selfish step of suicide, urge them to call a suicide watch or get 
some assistance.
  I am confident that my friend, had my friend just had a few more 
minutes of being able to calm down and think out the situation, we 
would have avoided a tragedy; not so much just a tragedy to my friend, 
but a tragedy to his friends, to his family, to his wife, and to his 
children. His wife, Anna, is a splendid person. She now faces a 
tremendous challenge ahead with these children.
  The circumstances of this suicide were tragic. I think the 
circumstances of any suicide are tragic. And if there is a 
justification for mental health assistance in this country, it is that 
suicide tragedy that takes place across the entire spectrum, across the 
entire spectrum of age, every day in this country.

                              {time}  2200

  So I just urge my colleagues again, we run at a fast pace around 
here, but if one has an opportunity to put one's hand on the shoulder 
of a friend, and I am sure all of my colleagues would do it, and I wish 
I would have had the opportunity to do it, it might just work; it might 
just prevent somebody from being in such despair that they ruin the 
most ultimate gift that God could give us.

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