[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 60 (Tuesday, May 16, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S3963]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE MILLION MOM MARCH

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I had a tremendous honor this weekend to 
march in the Million Mom March, along with about 750,000 citizens of 
this great country. They were moms; they were dads; they were grandmas 
and grandpas; and children in strollers.
  We really all had in our hearts one wish for Mother's Day--to turn 
around the gun violence that is plaguing our Nation.
  It was quite a march. It was quite an event because the emotion was 
high. The spirits were high. Perhaps the most touching part of it, for 
me and for many others, was the presence of so many moms and dads whose 
families have been touched by gun violence, whose children have been 
killed by gun violence, cut down by gun violence, maimed by gun 
violence.
  The victims were there with a message: That they want to make sure 
other families never have feelings of pain and loss and anguish which 
will last all their lives.
  I am embarrassed to say to my constituents that this Congress has 
done nothing--nothing at all--to reduce gun violence in our country. 
After Columbine, we passed five sensible gun measures--very modest, 
good, sensible gun measures--such as making sure every handgun is sold 
with a safety lock, and others that are very sensible: closing the gun 
show loophole so that a mentally imbalanced person or a criminal cannot 
walk into a gun show and simply be handed a gun--hand the cash over and 
get the gun with no background check.

  We know the background checks work, but they don't apply to gun 
shows. So Senator Lautenberg offered a very important amendment and it 
was added to the juvenile justice bill to close that gun show loophole. 
Vice President Al Gore cast the tie-breaking vote. We know that will 
keep guns out of the criminals' hands. But what has happened in this 
Senate? Nothing. The power of the gun lobby can be felt in this 
Chamber--the power of the money of the gun lobby, the power of the 
threat of the gun lobby, and the gun lobby rules in this Senate, the 
gun lobby rules in the House of Representatives, and the gun lobby says 
if one of the candidates is elected President--namely, George Bush--
they will run an office out of the White House.
  Mr. President, enough is enough. Let's look at the deaths from gun 
violence in our country. There were 58,168 deaths in Vietnam over 11 
years. They were tragic deaths. People were cut down in the prime of 
their lives. In 11 years, there were 58,168 deaths. Let's look at the 
last 11 years in America--the war on our streets, the war in our 
schools and, yes, even the war in our churches and Jewish community 
centers, where gunmen come in and cut people down in the prime of their 
lives; and they cut children down. There were 395,441 gun deaths in the 
11-year period.
  Now, we stopped the war in Vietnam--Democrats, Republicans, 
Independents, people of every race, color, and creed. We stopped that 
war. We can stop this war. But I will tell you, it isn't going to be 
easy. The gun lobby is not going to make it easy. We have to have 
courage. There are those of us in this Senate who are going to be on 
this floor from now on, in the name of the million moms who marched 
with the dads, the grandmas, the grandpas, and the children. We are 
going to be here. We are going to be here day after day. We are going 
to force this Senate to look this issue in the eye, to look families in 
the eye, to bring out the five sensible gun control measures that are 
in the juvenile justice bill. What excuse is there since Columbine High 
School, where 13 people were killed? Thirteen kids are killed every 
day.
  Thank you, Mr. President. We will be back on this issue.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois is recognized.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from California. 
Every day in America, 13 mothers receive a phone call or a knock on the 
door, a word from a neighbor, and their lives are changed. Every day in 
America, 13 mothers learn that one of their children has been killed by 
a gun. Every day in America, 13 mothers have a pain in their heart that 
will be there for a lifetime.
  This last Sunday, I went to Chicago, IL, on the banks of Lake 
Michigan. Our Million Mom March chapter came together, and thousands of 
people came out. They were inspired, of course, by the fact that it was 
Mother's Day and that we were addressing this issue because it is a 
family issue, and especially an issue that mothers take to heart 
because mothers, by their nature, protect their children. They came 
forward on the banks of Lake Michigan in Chicago and here on The Mall 
in Washington, DC, and in Los Angeles, and in cities across America, to 
say: Let us protect our children; protect our children from the gun 
criminals who menace our neighborhoods, our communities and our 
schools; protect our children from the gang bangers who spray these 
bullets from semiautomatic and automatic weapons across playgrounds, 
day care centers, and bus stops; protect our children from careless gun 
owners who insist on their constitutional right to own a gun but will 
not accept their moral responsibility to store it safely away from 
children; protect our children from a gun lobby in this town that has 
made a mockery of democracy, which owns this Chamber and owns the House 
of Representatives, which stops us in our tracks; protect our children 
from the indifference of millions of American families who know what I 
say is true but who didn't come to the march, who don't call a 
Congressman or a Senator and just shake their heads and say, ``It's 
politics, it's hopeless; they don't listen, they don't care.''
  The Million Mom March was an inspiration to so many people. It was an 
inspiration to me because at the end of the march in Chicago, the Bell 
Campaign, which sponsored it, invited the families of gun victims to 
come forward and literally ring a bell for their victim. They started 
coming slowly from the crowd, and then the numbers increased. The 
procession went on and on and on--black, white, brown, men, women, 
brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, breaking down in tears as 
they pealed that bell for a gun victim.
  I stood there, as a Member of the Senate, humbled by that experience, 
trying to imagine for one brief moment what it must be like to receive 
that telephone call or that knock on the door. I vowed I would come 
back to this Chamber this week and begin a personal campaign, a 
personal crusade to make the Senate act on this issue. To think that it 
is 1 year after Columbine and we have done nothing--we have not passed 
a bill to keep guns out of the hands of criminals or kids; we have been 
totally stopped by this gun lobby--it is a disgrace, a disgrace to this 
Chamber, to the Congress, and to this country. The million moms who 
came forward are watching and waiting and praying that before this 
ends, we will do something.
  The National Rifle Association bought a full-page ad in the 
Washington Post Friday criticizing the Million Mom March. Here is what 
they said: ``It is a political agenda masquerading as motherhood.''
  I have a message for the National Rifle Association. This was no 
masquerade; this was the real thing. These were real families who have 
endured the pain and suffering of gun violence. They are coming forward 
and challenging you, gun lobby, National Rifle Association, and 
challenging us in the Senate and in the House to do what is right for 
America, to reduce gun violence, reduce the pain, and reduce the 
suffering.
  There is no excuse for the fact that, for 1 year, the Republican 
leadership in the House and Senate has refused to bring a bill to the 
floor so we could vote and send to the President a bill to keep guns 
out of the hands of criminals and kids. You will hear more about this 
issue.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota is recognized 
for 10 minutes.




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