[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 22 (Thursday, February 15, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1456-S1457]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             ONE YEAR LATER

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, over the course of the next few weeks, the 
people of my home state of Michigan will memorialize the death of a 
little girl named Kayla Rolland.

[[Page S1457]]

  Kayla Rolland was killed by a classmate in their own first-grade 
classroom at Buell Elementary School near Flint, Michigan almost one 
year ago. This well publicized school shooting sparked outrage across 
our state and nation and helped lead hundreds of thousands of mothers 
to march in Washington for safer gun laws.
  Over the course of the year, we have learned more details about the 
shooting of the young girl. Police reports released just a few months 
ago reveal that the six-year-old boy who shot and killed Kayla had 
concealed the handgun in his pants pocket. He pulled the gun out of his 
pocket and pointed it at Kayla, who told the boy, ``Jesus doesn't like 
you to point guns at someone.'' The young boy responded, ``So? I don't 
like you'' and fired the gun that killed the young girl. Just before 
she collapsed, she turned to her classmate and said, ``I'm going to 
die.''
  For Kayla's mother and family, the pain from those few moments will 
last forever. At the Million Mom March, Kayla's mother spoke just a few 
days after what would have been Kayla's seventh birthday. She said:

       These are hard times for me and Kayla's brothers, sisters, 
     and her father, and for the rest of my family. Kayla's death 
     was devastating. There is not a day that goes by that I do 
     not cry as I go on with my life without my daughter. A part 
     of my heart went with her. It is so hard for me to think that 
     I will never see her smile, laugh or play again. I can never 
     hold her and kiss her again. Or see her grow up, get married, 
     and have a happy life. The gun that killed my daughter in her 
     first grade classroom was a gun that could be loaded by a 6-
     year-old child, concealed by a 6-year-old child, and held and 
     fired by a 6-year-old child. Please, don't ever forget that. 
     This is proof that there is need for gun safety devices and 
     gun control. I come here today, two days after what would 
     have been her seventh birthday. I am a Mom with a terrible 
     tragedy, and I hope it never, ever happens again.

  One year after the death of Kayla Rolland, after hundreds of 
thousands of families marched in Washington at the Million Mom March, 
and after countless other shooting tragedies, Congress cannot guarantee 
that it never happens again because one year later Congress has not 
worked seriously to reduce youth access to guns or to pass legislation 
that will make our nation's children safer.

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