[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 77 (Monday, June 19, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5316-S5317]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        VICTIMS OF GUN VIOLENCE

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I have spoken about the drug problems in 
America and this issue of foreign policy. But there is another issue 
which is a continuing concern across America. It is the fact that this 
Senate and Congress have failed to act on the problem in America of gun 
violence. It has been a little over a year since the Columbine tragedy, 
but still the leadership in this Congress refuses to enact sensible gun 
safety legislation.
  Most will recall that a little over a year ago, we passed in this 
Chamber, with the tie breaking vote of Vice President Gore, legislation 
which would allow us to do background checks on people who buy guns at 
gun shows. If you go to buy a gun here in America, they are going to 
ask some questions: Do you have a history of committing a crime; a 
history of violent mental illness; are you old enough to own a gun? 
That is part of the Brady law. And with that law, we stopped some 
500,000 people from buying guns in America who were, in fact, people 
with a criminal record or a history of violent and mental illness, or 
children. We stopped it--half a million of them--but there is a big 
loophole there. If you go to the so-called gun shows which we have in 
Illinois and States such as Texas and all over the country, these gun 
bazaars and flea markets do not have any background checks. You do not 
have to be John Dillinger and the greatest criminal mind to understand 
if you need a gun, do not go to a gun dealer, go to a gun show. No 
questions are asked; you can buy it on the spot.

  We passed a law. We said we have to close this loophole. If we really 
want to keep guns out of the hands of people who will misuse them, we 
need a background check at gun shows. That was part of our bill.
  The second part of the bill related to a provision with which Senator 
Kohl from Wisconsin came forward. It said if you sell a handgun in 
America, it should have a child safety protection device, or so-called 
trigger lock. You have seen them. They look like little padlocks. You 
put them over the trigger so if a child gets his hands on a gun, he or 
she will not be able to pull the trigger and harm anyone.
  Is this important? It is critically important. We read every day in 
the newspapers about kids being harmed, killing their playmates, and 
terrible things occurring when they find a handgun. It is naive for any 
gun owner to believe if they have a gun in the house, they can 
successfully hide a gun. Children are always going to find Christmas 
gifts and guns. We have to acknowledge that as parents. If they find 
Christmas gifts, it is disappointing. If they find guns, it can be 
tragic.
  Those who say they will not have a gun in their house if they have 
little kids may not have peace of mind if they know their playmates' 
parents own guns and do not have a trigger lock on them.
  We said as a matter of standard safety in America, we want every 
handgun to be sold with a trigger lock. Is it an inconvenience for the 
gun owner? Yes, let's concede that fact. Do we face inconveniences 
every day bringing safety to our country and to our lives? Of course we 
do. Have you gone through an airport lately? Did you have to put that 
purse or that briefcase on the conveyor belt? Did you go through the 
metal detector? It is inconvenient, isn't it? It slowed you down, 
didn't it? We all do it because we do not want terrorists on airplanes 
and we want to fly safely.
  So the idea of a trigger lock on a handgun I do not believe is a 
major obstacle to gun ownership or using a gun safely and legally. That 
was the second part of the bill that passed and went over to the House 
of Representatives.
  The third part is one that is hardly arguable, and that is, we ban 
the domestic manufacture of high-capacity ammunition clips in this 
country, clips that can hold up to 100 or more bullets. The belief was 
nobody needed them. The only people who would need those would be the 
military or police. The average person has no need for them.
  I said time and again that if a person needs an assault weapon or 
some sort of automatic weapon with a 100-round clip to shoot a deer, 
they ought to stick to fishing. Sadly, there are people who found if 
you could not manufacture these high-capacity ammo clips in the United 
States, you could import them from overseas. The third part of our gun 
safety legislation said we are going to stop the importation of high-
capacity ammo clips which are designed to kill people. They have 
nothing to do with legitimate sports or hunting.
  Three provisions: Background checks at gun shows, trigger locks on 
handguns when they are sold, and no more importation of high-capacity 
ammo clips. Do those sound like radical ideas to you? They do not to 
me. They sound like a commonsense effort to keep guns out of the hands 
of people who would misuse them.

  We barely passed the bill. The National Rifle Association, the gun 
lobby, opposed it. The bill received 49 votes for, 49 votes against. 
Vice President Al Gore sat in that chair, as he is entitled under the 
Constitution, and cast the tie-breaking vote--50-49. The bill went to 
the House of Representatives--this is after Columbine--and with all 
this determination, we said: We are finally going to do something to 
respond to gun violence.
  Of course, when it went over to the House of Representatives, the gun 
lobby, the National Rifle Association, piled it on, and the bill was 
decimated. There is nothing in it that looks like what I described. 
Then it went to conference. We are supposed to work out differences 
between the House and the Senate in conference. They have sat on it for 
a year, and every day in America, 12 or 13 children are killed by guns. 
The same number of kids who died at Columbine die each day, not in one 
place but all across America. They are kids

[[Page S5317]]

who commit suicide. They are kids who are gang bangers shooting up 
innocent people. They are kids who are playing with their playmates.
  The gun tragedy continues in America, and this Congress refuses to do 
anything. Many of us come to the floor of the Senate on a regular basis 
as a reminder to our colleagues in Congress that this issue will not go 
away because gun violence is not going away, and we need to do 
something to make America safer.
  Since Columbine, thousands of Americans have been killed by gunfire. 
Until we act, the Democratic leadership in the Senate who supports this 
gun safety legislation will read some names into the Record of those 
who lost their lives to gun violence in the past year and will continue 
to do so every day the Senate is in session. In the name of those who 
have died and their families, we will continue this fight.
  The following are the names of just some of the people killed by 
gunfire 1 year ago on the dates that I mention. On June 19, 1999, these 
were the gun victims in just some of the States and some of the cities 
across America:
  Milton Coleman, 58, Gary, IN; Darnell Green, 28, Gary, IN; Ronald 
Hari, 25, Chicago, IL; David Jackson, 23, St. Louis, MO; Andre Johnson, 
24, Detroit, MI; Eien Johnson, 19, Detroit, MI; Nakia Johnson, 22, 
Philadelphia, PA; Lewis Lackey, 47, Baltimore, MD; Malcolm Mitchell, 
Gary, IN; Mann Murphy, 76 Detroit, MI; Robert Rodriguez, 31, Houston 
TX; Donnell Roland, 20, Kansas City, MO; Denise Wojciechowski, 33, 
Chicago, IL; an unidentified male, 36, Long Beach, CA; another 
unidentified male, 53, Nashville, TN; another unidentified male, 19, 
Newark, NJ.
  In addition, since the Senate was not in session on June 17 or June 
18, I ask unanimous consent that the names of those who were killed by 
gunfire last year on June 17 and June 18 be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:


                                June 17

       Donald R. Gauldin, Pine Bluff, AR; Phillip Martello, 18, 
     New Orleans, LA; Lee Martindale, 14, St. Louis, MO; Marcus D. 
     Miller, 18, Chicago, IL; Larry Mitchell, 19, Dallas, TX; 
     Raymond Reed, 71, Charleston, SC; Molly Roberts, 15, Houston, 
     TX; Norberto Rodriguez, 26, San Antonio, TX; Philip M. 
     Spears, 51, Houston, TX; and Tony Williams, 19, Chicago, IL.


                                June 18

       Warren Cunningham, 33, Charlotte, NC; Barron Howe, 31, 
     Washington, DC; Daniel Metcalf, 31, Washington, DC; Tony 
     Muse, Detroit, MI; Adam W. Newton, 36, Oklahoma City, OK; 
     Nysia Reese, 15, Philadelphia, PA; Jeffrey Rhoads, 37, York, 
     PA; Coartney Robinson, 20, Dallas, TX; Debra Rogers, 45, 
     Dallas, TX; and Damian Santos, 20, Bridgeport, CT.

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, the reason these names are being read is 
to share with my colleagues in the Senate the fact that this is not 
just another issue. The issue of gun safety and gun violence in America 
is an ongoing tragedy, a tragedy which we will read about in tomorrow 
morning's paper and the next morning's paper and every day thereafter 
until we in this country come forward with a sensible gun safety policy 
to keep guns out of the hands of those who misuse them.
  I have seen the National Rifle Association, Mr. Heston, and all of 
his claims about second amendment rights to the ownership of guns. I 
believe people have a right to own guns, so long as they do so safely 
and legally, but I do not believe there is a single right under our 
Constitution--not one--that does not carry with it a responsibility.
  There is a responsibility on the part of gun owners across America to 
buy their guns in a way that will keep guns out of the hands of those 
who would misuse them and to store their guns in a way so they are 
safely away from children who would use guns and hurt themselves and 
others, and not to demand guns in America that have no legitimate 
sport, hunting, or self-defense purpose.
  Most Americans agree with what I have just said. I think it is a 
majority opinion in this country. It is clearly not the feeling of the 
Republican leadership in the Senate and the House of Representatives. 
They have continued to bottle up this legislation which would move us 
closer to the day when we have a safer society and when families and 
communities across America can breathe a sigh of relief that the crime 
statistics and gun statistics about which we read are continuing to go 
down and not up.

                          ____________________