[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 106 (Tuesday, September 12, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H7380-H7384]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SCHOOL SAFETY HOTLINE ACT OF 2000
Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 5123) to require the Secretary of Education to provide
notification to States and State educational agencies regarding the
availability of certain administrative funds to establish school safety
hotlines.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 5123
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that--
(1) an estimated 255,000 violent incidents occurred in 1999
on school property, at an official school function, or while
traveling to and from school;
(2) for the complete school year July 1, 1997, through June
30, 1998, there were 58 school-associated violent deaths that
resulted from 46 incidents; 46 of these violent deaths were
homicides, 11 were suicides, and 1 teenager was killed by a
law enforcement officer in the course of duty;
(3) although fewer school-associated violent deaths have
occurred in recent years, the total number of multiple victim
homicide events has increased;
(4) in 1997, 5 percent of all 12th graders reported that
they had been purposefully injured, while they were at
school, with a weapon such as a knife, gun, or club during
the prior 12 months, and 14 percent reported that they had
been injured on purpose without a weapon;
(5) on average, each year from 1993 to 1997, there were
131,400 violent crimes against teachers at schools, as
reported by teachers from both public and private schools,
which translates into a rate of 31 violent crimes for every
1,000 teachers;
(6) tools should be created for, and provided to, students,
teachers, parents, and administrators across the country so
that they have the ability to provide the information
necessary to law enforcement authorities to take action
before other tragedies occur; and
(7) school safety hotlines allow students, parents, and
school personnel the opportunity to report threats of school
violence to law enforcement authorities, thus reducing
incidents of youth violence.
SEC. 2. NOTIFICATION.
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of
this Act, the Secretary of Education shall provide written
notification to the States and State educational agencies of
the ability of States or State educational agencies, as
appropriate, to use State administrative funds provided under
title IV and title VI of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 to implement programs related to the
establishment and operation of a toll-free telephone hotline
that students, parents, and school personnel use to report
suspicious, violent, or threatening behavior related to
schools or school functions to law enforcement authorities.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) and the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs.
McCarthy) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo).
General Leave
Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their
remarks on H.R. 5123.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Colorado?
There was no objection.
Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5123, the School Safety
Hotline Act of 2000, which would require the Secretary of Education to
notify State education agencies so that they can use funding under the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act to establish school safety
hotlines.
One of the effects of the recent rash of violence in our Nation's
schools is that many of our students no longer feel safe. Recent
studies and polls have confirmed this, showing that the number of
students who fear violence in their school is at a record level. We
cannot expect the educational process to continue unencumbered when
teachers and students are as concerned with their safety as they are
with teaching and learning.
School safety hotlines allow students, teachers, parents, and school
personnel the opportunity to report threats or acts of violence to
authorities. They give everyone back some of the security that they
deserve, allowing them to concentrate on teaching and learning, the
very reasons for which they are in school.
{time} 1415
According to the report ``The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment
Perspective'' released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation last
week, one of the most important aspects of identifying potential
violent adolescents is detecting that point at which they begin to talk
about the event they are planning, when a student intentionally or
unintentionally reveals clues to feelings, thoughts, fantasies,
attitudes, or intentions that may signal an impending violent act.
Not too long ago we had the opportunity to hear from members of the
Secret Service who came into our office and made us aware of the fact
that they had been working on a profile similar to this, or a document
similar to this, and looking at the number of people who have been
involved with either threats against personnel or threats against
elected officials or people who have carried out those threats, and
then looking at what they found were similar characteristics among the
people who had been involved with school shootings and school violence.
One of the things they told us, there were several common elements,
but the one that struck my attention at the time was the fact that all
of these people tell somebody; that none of them have acted alone, in a
vacuum, without ever letting anyone know of their intentions.
If that is the case, if in fact that happens and these people are
inclined toward that and do in fact tell others, then something like
the school safety hotline, the need for it is quite evident.
In the aftermath of the tragedies around the country, I worked in
cooperation with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, the Colorado
Department of Education, U.S. West, now Qwest, AT&T, and local sheriffs
departments throughout the State to establish the Colorado school
safety hotline. We were able to pool the resources of State agencies
and private companies to provide this needed resource for the State
which provides parents, students, and teachers with a valuable tool in
our efforts to make schools safe.
We were able to come together as elected leaders, administrators,
neighbors, friends, and families to search for ways to restore that
sense of safety and security to our schools. Now if someone learns of a
potential threat to a fellow student, a teacher, or a school facility,
they have an opportunity to provide this information to law enforcement
and school authorities who will follow up on their tip, and they can do
so anonymously.
All reports to the hotline are kept strictly confidential. Here is
how it works, and here is how it has worked in Colorado. The Colorado
Bureau of Investigation answers the school safety hotline 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week. This is enormously important. We have talked to
other people and other school districts that have implemented these,
but they are not really always available and accessible to a live
person on the other end. Sometimes they go into a recording. That
leaves a great deal of liability for the agency involved.
This hotline, the one we have in Colorado, operates, as I say, 24
hours a day, 7 days a week. It goes to a live person. Then the
sheriff's department
[[Page H7381]]
in the county where the school is located is identified and is provided
with the information, if that is necessary.
The local sheriff's department then works with local law enforcement
agencies to take appropriate action and follow up on tips phoned into
the hotline.
Of course, one of the most important aspects of the hotline is
getting the word out to everyone in our schools and communities. To
this end, the Colorado Department of Education provides each school
with posters and makes sure all students and parents are aware of the
hotline. AT&T-Qwest provides the public service announcements to
highlight the school safety hotline to students, and they do so through
the cooperation of TCI cable.
On the hardware side, Qwest has provided the telephone service for
the hotline, including the telephones, the phone service, and
installation, and provides the maintenance. As of September 5, the
Colorado school safety hotline has taken over 600 calls, including 80
that were in the nature of a threat.
Establishing hotlines will hopefully help prevent future tragedy, and
are just one of the many actions we can take to help make our schools
safer. This will not be a cure, but it is another tool for all of us to
use. We all know that the roots of school violence lie much deeper, but
we should do everything at our disposal to prevent individual acts from
happening.
The Colorado school safety hotline has been a success, and we need to
make sure that every school district in America knows they already have
some of the resources they need to start their own hotline.
H.R. 5123, the School Safety Hotline Act of 2000, was devised to help
States throughout the nation do just that. While I wholeheartedly
advocate the public-private partnerships in developing the hotline,
which has been extremely successful in my district, with the passage of
this legislation, funding will not be an issue whether to take steps to
help protect our schools and communities.
It is my hope that tools like the school safety hotline will help
restore a sense of security to students, teachers, and their families
who undertake this learning mission each day. Once again, I thank the
Speaker and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Goodling) for moving
this bill. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5123.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, today the House considers legislation that will direct
the Secretary of Education to notify the States that Federal money is
available to set up school safety hotlines so teachers, students, and
parents will be able to report threats of school violence to law
enforcement.
Many States already know these funds are available for school
hotlines. Some House Members may question whether or not this
legislation is really necessary.
As a member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce with my
colleague, the gentleman from Colorado, I am committed to reducing
classroom sizes, ensuring after-school programs, and increasing student
achievement and test scores. We can accomplish none of these things
unless we have safe schools first.
Had the 106th Congress really addressed school violence, then this
legislation would be an appropriate amendment in major gun safety
legislation. I regret that Congress has accomplished next to nothing to
enact commonsense gun safety legislation.
Have we closed the gun show loophole that permits criminals to get
guns easily? No. Have we required gun manufacturers to install safety
locks on all new guns? No. Have we banned high-capacity ammunition
clips on assault weapons? No. Do we even allow the Department of
Education to collect specific information on gun violence in our
schools? No.
In my home State of New York, I have worked closely with Governor
George Pataki and our State lawmakers so we were able to enact strong,
commonsense gun safety legislation this summer. I am proud our State
now has a law that closes the gun show loophole and requires child
safety locks on guns.
We need national commonsense gun legislation. This way we know all
our schools will certainly be as safe as they can be.
The House leadership and the gun lobby have maintained their ironclad
alliance to block the consideration of this commonsense gun
legislation. I urge the American people to send a message to the House
leadership to reject the gun lobby and enact real gun safety
legislation before we adjourn for the year.
Mr. Speaker, the new school year has just begun. We need to give
parents greater assurance that their children will be safe while they
are attending school. I will support H.R. 5123, but the truth is, the
Congress must do more. We can close the gun show loophole. We can
require child safety locks. We can ban high-capacity ammunition clips.
We can collect information on gun violence in our schools.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr.
Pascrell).
Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding time
to me on this important issue, and I commend her for her continued
fight on this most critical problem.
We all remember with horror the tragedy that occurred in April of
1999 at Littleton, Colorado. It left a country speechless, parents
childless, and Congress clueless. We will likely never know the
motivations behind these two young killers.
One fact remains glaringly clear, Mr. Speaker: They were able to
obtain the firearms they needed without any questions asked. A friend
of the two purchased the guns from a gun show the previous autumn. Days
after the killing she said, ``I wish it had been more difficult. I
wouldn't have helped them buy the guns if I had faced a background
check.''
In the days, months, and now a year following Columbine, I have
joined my colleagues in the Congress from both sides of the aisle to
put an end to the gun show loophole. While successful to that end, the
majority leadership still refuses to address other proposed legislation
dealing with gun safety issues, so I am pleased and I am honored to
stand with the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) and his
legislation. It is on the suspension calendar today, and I salute the
gentleman from Colorado. It is timely, in fact, because millions of
children and teenagers are returning to classrooms across the Nation to
go back to school this month.
As stated in H.R. 5123, an estimated 225,000 violent incidents
occurred in 1999 on school property, at an official school function, or
while traveling to and from school. That is not acceptable and it
should not be to anybody, regardless of which side of the aisle they
sit on. Students and teachers ought not to leave their houses in the
morning worried about whether or not they will make it home that
evening.
H.R. 5123 adds one more safety measure to ensuring that school
violence is stopped. To those who say there are enough laws on the
books already, I say, they are misinformed. It requires the Secretary
of Education to notify States that administrative funds may be used to
establish the tollfree hotline in schools, as the good gentleman from
Colorado pointed out. Parents, students, and school personnel wanting
to report suspicious or violent acts could use this hotline.
I applaud the author of this commonsense legislation. It does not
take one gun away from one person in the United States of America. It
is common sense, and I applaud the gentleman for that. This is a step
in the right direction.
I am encouraged that we are debating this today, because it gives me
hope. Remember the song, Core Ingrata. Give me the slightest sign of
hope. That is what they are doing today. This measure requires, as a
measure that I had introduced not too long ago concerning smart guns,
that every handgun manufactured and sold in America must incorporate
technology to allow operation only by its owner. What in God's name is
so demonic about that?
I urge the majority leadership to consider bringing up reasonable gun
legislation: a 3-day waiting period for gun show purchases, the
elimination of high-capacity ammunition clips, and requiring child
safety locks on every handgun. We have Federal law on aspirins, child
seats, cigarette lighters. We are afraid to do it with weapons.
[[Page H7382]]
Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I recognized when I brought this measure forward that
would provide an opportunity for our friends on the other side to
discuss a variety of other issues not really attendant to this
particular problem, not attendant to this particular bill.
We can spend all of our time, and I know that, in debate on the
myriad of issues that have been hashed and rehashed on this floor,
debated, discussed, or raked over, but in fact we are talking about
something here that is a very practical step that can be taken
tomorrow.
It does not need the overwhelming support of the Congress from a
financial standpoint, it just simply needs to be passed into law and
allowed to be implemented by the Secretary of Education, and we will
have done something significant. It is meaningful. These are not just
whimsical attempts to try to deal with this problem. Over 600 calls
have come in in 1 year, a little over 1 year. Eighty of those calls
were of a threatening nature.
{time} 1430
We do not know, because the system does not require a feedback, as to
what kind of action was finally taken after the CBA sends the
information to the local agency. But, anecdotally, we have heard that
there have been three to four arrests that have been made as a result
of the hotline; and, therefore, we can only speculate as to the
possibility as to the number of people whose lives have either been
saved or at least kept out of harm's way as a result of this. So we can
do this. We should think positively about the steps we can take in this
regard.
I urge us to focus our attention on this issue and not on the many
other things that I know are deep and deeply felt. I totally understand
my colleagues who do get emotional about this issue. It is definitely
an emotional issue. Perhaps the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr.
Pascrell) and I share more than just an inclination of that because,
being both Italians here, one can understand how we can both get
emotional about this.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Roemer), my colleague on the Committee on
Education and the Workforce.
(Mr. ROEMER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. ROEMER. Mr. Speaker, I would, first of all, like to thank the
gentlewoman from New York for the time that she has given me to speak
on such an important topic and commend her for her strong leadership on
the committee that we serve on together.
I would like to extend a bipartisan hand to my colleague on the other
side of the aisle who also serves on the Committee on Education and the
Workforce for his common sense, his bipartisanship, and his
responsiveness to a need in America, which is important to establish a
safety hotline for our parents and our schools.
But just as we need this safety hotline because of violence programs
in our schools, we also need more. We need a lifeline to many of our
students in our schools across this great country who do not have a
chance to get a good education.
Just as we have brought this bipartisan and responsive and common
sense legislation to the floor tonight, it is a very small step, a drop
in the bucket towards solving some of the education problems in
America, we need to do more.
The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Davis) and I have a bill to try
innovative and bold and new ways to respond to the need in this country
to bring more teachers into the teaching profession. Where is that bill
today? This would bring people into the teaching profession at 40 or 50
years old in technology and math and science areas when too many of our
teachers are overwhelmed with problems in the schools; and they are
teaching, with a physical education degree, physics. They are not
certified in the area. So we need to do more.
We need to do more in Head Start, making our Head Start programs more
responsive to the needs of learning children earlier and at earlier
ages. We need more resources for those children. Where is that bill
today?
We need to do more to help some of our working families in the middle
class and low income to afford the cost of college or community school.
But we do not have that bill today.
We do not have the Elementary and Secondary Education Act on the
floor today, although that will probably expire soon. We need more
charter schools and public choice in America today. Where is that bill
today?
Now, I am all for establishing a hotline to help our parents and our
children and help establish safer schools, but what about the lifeline?
In America today, across the country, from Colorado to Indiana to New
York, education is the most important and pressing concern on the minds
of our parents. Yet, oftentimes we cannot muster the needed, the
required bipartisanship and common sense and responsiveness to bring
some of these other bills to the floor.
I hope we do it before this session ends. I hope we can work on
charter schools and public choice. I hope we can work on new ideas to
bring new teachers into the profession. I hope we can work on better
quality ideas for our parents to be involved in our schools and for
local control. I hope that we can work on the ideas of, sometimes in
our cities, schools that are literally falling down on the heads of our
children.
Let us work together in this Congress on these ideas and not just on
the idea, although it is a good one, of outlines for our parents, for
safe schools.
Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute.
Mr. Speaker, if we are going to get into all of the things that have
not been on the floor that are not on the floor, it is, I guess,
important for us to talk about what has happened so far.
April 29, 1999, the Educational Flexibility Act, H.R. 800, was signed
into law; May 4, 1999, IDEA Full Funding resolution passed the House;
July 10, the Teacher Empowerment Act. October 12, Dollars to the
Classroom resolution passed the House; October 21, Student's Results
Act. October 21, the Academic Achievement Act (Straight A's) passed the
House. February 29, Literacy Involves Families Together Act passed the
committee. April 13, the committee completed consideration of Education
Options Act. May 3, IDEA Full Funding bill passed the House.
There have been actions taken. Again, speaking about these things in
a vacuum makes it appear as though this is the only thing that we are
doing. It is certainly not the case with education.
Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Roemer).
Mr. ROEMER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New York once
again for her kindness and generosity. I just respond to the gentleman
from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) by saying this: The first bill that he
mentioned, the Education Flexibility Act, was a bill that I authored
with the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle), a Republican; and we
worked across the aisle to pass that bill. It was signed into law by
the President. It was one of the few that the gentleman from Colorado
mentioned that has been signed into law.
It is one thing to be able to say we passed this in this body, it is
another thing to be able to say we mustered the bipartisanship in the
Senate or we were able to persuade or convince the President to be with
us on the issue; and generally he is with us on many of these education
issues.
The gentleman from Colorado mentioned a host of resolutions that do
not have the force of law. The gentleman mentioned the TEA act, the
Teacher Empowerment Act, that tries to provide more opportunities for
our teachers to get into the teaching profession in new ways. I
supported that piece of legislation. That is not law. ESCA, no where to
be found today. Elementary and Secondary Education Act that is so vital
where, we worked very well together for about a third of that act in a
bipartisan way, and then bipartisanship somehow mysteriously fell
apart.
So we have a long way to go. My point to the gentleman from Colorado
(Mr. Tancredo) is, one, to congratulate him for a bipartisan piece of
legislation today, and, secondly, and I think he would admit, we need
to do more.
The challenges in America today were succinctly put forward by Thomas
[[Page H7383]]
Jefferson a long time ago when he said ``I like the dreams of the
future better than the history of the past.'' The dreams for the future
for our children are a great education and not leaving children behind.
Too many of these children are being left behind.
We need local control of our schools. We need more public school
choice and more charter schools. We need more new and innovative ways
to bring teachers into the profession and give them the resources to
have great schools.
Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Roemer) for his
comments, his very, I think, observant comments. I believe that much of
what he brings to our attention is worthy of our attention. There is so
much that we can do here and so much for which we have responsibility.
There is this other body, the other body we all know, we all have
concerns and complaints about how it operates, or sometimes it
apparently does not, but the fact is that is where most of this
legislation resides. We can take, I think, pride in what we have done
here. There is only so much we can do until the other body makes their
decisions and moves along.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield 7\1/2\ minutes to the
gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton).
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs.
McCarthy) for yielding me this time. I especially want to thank her for
her consistent and dedicated leadership on gun safety; leadership that
has not faltered, as I am sad to say this Congress has.
I want to congratulate the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo),
who knows firsthand what gun violence can mean to a State and to a
jurisdiction, for the bipartisan leadership he has given on the bill
that is before us today.
It is a useful bill. It is useful if nothing more as an advertisement
for districts to know that this money exists. It is useful as a
reminder to the Department of Education, if the Secretary has not
already done it, to send out notices that these funds are available. It
is useful to help prevent further gun violence.
But if I may say so, if we are truly serious about preventing gun
violence, we will look at more than threats for gun violence. There
would be fewer threats if there were fewer guns.
The gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) mentioned the kind of
emotion that he knew his bill would call forth on the floor. Well,
particularly for those of us from high gun violence jurisdictions, what
kind of Members would we be this late in the session if we had no
passion for this issue?
I can tell my colleagues this, the representatives of the Million
Moms came to see me recently. Last week they went to the press in
desperation. The mothers who appeared with pictures of their dead
children. Yes, we are angry, Mr. Speaker. They were angry, many of
them, to the point of tears. School was opening throughout the region
and throughout the country. They could not believe that the 106th
Congress had made no progress on gun safety since the Columbine youth
massacre more than a year ago. They were incredulous, and they mean for
us to be incredulous.
They were dismayed that the leadership could be sitting on gun safety
legislation as their children were about to go back to school. They
could not believe that we would consider going home without taking this
bill out of conference and passing it now. That is what they wanted me
to come to the floor to say this afternoon. I would be here in a 5-
minute speech if not for this legislation.
My colleagues are going to hear, not only from me and the gentlewoman
from New York (Mrs. McCarthy), they are going to hear from many of us
until this bill is passed and especially during this session.
The moms cannot believe that, after families pulled off the largest
gun safety demonstration in American history, this House, this Senate
has not yet heard them. I can tell my colleagues this, they have not
gone away. They have not only not gone away, look in the districts of
my colleagues. They are in their district now organizing.
They are making gun safety a potent election issue, which it did not
have to be, because there is bipartisan support for the minimum gun
safety legislation that is locked up in a self-imposed moratorium in
conference committee as I speak.
I can tell my colleagues one thing. It is dangerous to treat moms
like children with short attention spans. They are in for the long
haul. They are not going to forget. They did not forget when they came,
and they are not going to forget in November.
As Congress came back, the families felt no safer, even though it was
reported during that very week that crime was down 10 percent in the
country over last year. We hear one hand clapping. I do not hear the
moms clapping. We are down 34 percent since 1993. Do my colleagues know
why they do not hear them clapping is because they do not feel any
safer.
Now, I do not know if passing the gun legislation locked up by the
majority will make them be any safer, I know they will feel safer. It
is the shadow of Columbine, I will say to the gentleman from Colorado
(Mr. Tancredo), that is hanging over the heads of parents and children
in every State of the Union, in the District of Columbia, and the
insular areas.
Imagine waking up just before Congress reconvenes and reading in the
Washington Post that the FBI was preparing a guidebook on how to detect
children who might go on a shooting spree.
{time} 1445
I want to know how to detect the guns and get the guns out of the
hands of children who might be inclined to go on a shooting spree.
Congress better watch out, we are way behind the moms. We are still
at the level of high-capacity ammunition, safety locks on guns, and the
gun show loophole. They have sailed ahead to licensing and registration
one gun a month. But if we were to do just what is before us now, I
think they would feel that they and we had accomplished much.
I know this much: they have got long memories and their memories are
not sustained by the statistics that show about 80,000 children killed
in gun violence since 1979. They are not sustained by the statistics
from the District of Columbia that show that there were 700 children
killed by gun violence in my district.
Do my colleagues know why I am emotional? Seven hundred children in
this city of half a million.
I know some of my colleagues will say, Yeah, you have got legislation
that bans guns, Eleanor, so what good is it? I will tell them what good
it is. Not one of those guns came from the District of Columbia. Every
one of them was brought in from jurisdictions that allow guns to be
sold with loopholes and without safety locks.
This is one country. This is all of our country. Guns travel across
borders the same way that children do. And until there is a national
gun law, there is no gun law and there is no safety for any child
anywhere in America.
We do not measure them by statistics. We measure them by the way I
do, by Harris ``Pappy'' Bates, who went on Easter Monday to the
National Zoo, set up by this body, and got shot in the head. I am
pleased to report that somehow he has survived.
We measure it by Andre Watts and Natasha Marsh of Wilson High School,
who were buried in their graduation gowns.
Many of us stand with Mothers Across America. I say to my colleagues,
I come to my colleagues with their message: we go home without gun
safety legislation at our peril.
Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, it was inevitable, I am sure, regardless of how many
attempts to try and focus on this particular piece of legislation, a
positive step that we are taking, it was inevitable that we would begin
to once again hear the kind of rhetoric just propounded on the floor of
the House. It is inevitable but disconcerting.
Certainly those of us from my State, certainly I need no one to
remind me what happened, where it happened, and how it happened. And I
will tell my colleagues this also: we can talk forever
[[Page H7384]]
about gun violence, and there are absolutely legitimate issues for us
to debate on this floor and through legislative bodies throughout the
United States, but to tie every single issue every single time they
have an opportunity to tie Columbine to it, to use that name over and
over again, they do so and they do so, I believe, in a way that is not
respectful of the event and of the feelings and emotions of the people
in my community because it is exploiting that horrific event.
The gun show, let us talk about exactly what did happen. And I do
hope that, in fact, the people of this Nation do have long memories. I
will be more than willing to help them remember exactly what happened
on this floor when we debated the part of the bill dealing with gun
safety that we call the juvenile justice bill and we, in fact, included
a provision to close the gun show loophole; and we included a ban on
importation of high-capacity clips, and we included a juvenile Brady
bill saying that if any juvenile gets convicted of a violent crime that
they can never own a gun, and we included a mandatory sale of gun
locks; and we included making it illegal for a juvenile to possess an
assault weapon.
Those were there. The bill went down, and it went down with 191
Democrat noes and about 81 or 82 Republican noes, and it went down
because there was a desire to have rhetoric for the rest of this
session about guns as opposed to a solution.
This that I propose today is part of a solution. It is not the cure.
It is not the silver lining that we can look for in this ominous
picture. But it does give us hope, and it is designed to give children
and parents hope.
There is nothing more discouraging in the last several months than
having to recognize the fact that there were kids all over this country
actually afraid to go to school. Even if nothing had happened in their
particular school, nothing of a violent nature, they were still afraid
because of everything they had seen on the television, everything they
had heard from the media about the potential for violence.
I kept thinking to myself, what can I do, what is one thing I can do
about this; and it was this hotline, the school safety hotline. It is
not everything we should do. I agree with my colleagues, there is more.
But, please, let us at least be positive enough to move in the
direction that we know we all want to move here; and that is to provide
a safe learning environment for every single child in America and to do
so without the sort of incredibly divisive and, I think, inappropriate
rhetoric, especially in reference to Columbine.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Quinn). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 5123.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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