[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 59 (Monday, May 15, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H2970]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     PROMOTING LIVABLE COMMUNITIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, all across America, people woke up this 
morning to front page stories in their communities about the Million 
Mom March against gun violence. There are pictures of the hundreds of 
thousands of people who gathered here on the Mall in Washington and 
other stories featuring the crowds in their hometowns in dozens and 
dozens of communities across America. I joined thousands of people for 
a march to Pioneer Square in Portland, Oregon yesterday. I do not know 
if there were a million moms or not.
  Based on the reports that I have reviewed, it is likely that the 
hundreds of thousands here in Washington, D.C. and the tens of 
thousands in communities across the country could easily have reached 
or surpassed that number. The issue for me is not so much whether there 
were a million moms who marched, but the million moms who grieve.
  In the last third of a century, over a million victims have been 
claimed by gun violence in the United States, more than the entire 
number of Americans lost in all the wars from the Civil War right 
through today. Yesterday's gathering was in memory of the million 
victims, though the testimony was not just of a million victims, but a 
million mothers, a million fathers, millions of brothers and sisters 
and grandparents whose lives were touched forever by gun violence.
  The Americans who participated were not, in the main, advocates or 
activists. They were largely people who know that America can do 
better. They know that despite the opposition of the National Rifle 
Association to the Brady Bill, that America is safer because people 
with criminal records or a history of mental illness have been 
prevented by that Brady Bill from getting a half million guns.
  They know that if these prohibitions were extended to people with a 
history of committing violent misdemeanors, that America would be safer 
still because these people are 15 times more likely to commit violence 
with weapons. They know that if we care enough as a Nation to make it 
harder for a 2-year-old to open a bottle of aspirin, then we can make 
it harder for that 2-year-old to shoot her sister. They know that the 
gun show loophole should in fact be closed, especially when they learn 
that the delay of a few hours for a certain category of people who are 
not cleared instantly, that these people are 20 times more likely to 
have the record of mental health problems or criminal records that are 
precisely the people we want to keep weapons away from.
  The American public knows that we can succeed. In the 1960s, Congress 
and the auto industry, prodded by the public, began a war on traffic 
deaths that resulted in safer cars and tougher laws. In the 1980s, a 
mother who lost her child to a drunk driver decided to add her voice to 
that of many others, and MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, was born, 
and the government was encouraged, some would say forced, to crack down 
on drunk driving.
  As a result of all of these options, in the last third of a century, 
we have cut the death rate on our highways in half. The mothers march 
is a signal to people all over America that it is time for a similar 
effort to reduce gun violence in our communities.
  Everybody knows that there is no single solution, but that there are 
many small steps that will save lives. If we in Congress are serious 
about listening to our constituents and making our communities more 
livable and safer, we have to start today. Why does the Speaker not 
direct the conference committee on juvenile crime, which has not met 
since last August, to meet now and address the simple, common-sense 
provisions to reduce gun violence that have already passed the Senate?
  Action by this House would be an important sign that we can send to 
our constituents that we understand their concerns and we share their 
passion for saving families from unnecessary violence, making our 
communities more livable, our families safer, healthier and more 
economically secure.

                          ____________________