[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 28 (Tuesday, March 6, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1888-S1889]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    SCHOOL SHOOTINGS AND GUN SAFETY

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise tonight to express my deep sadness 
for the families and victims of yesterday's high school shooting 
tragedy in California.
  Yesterday, Charles ``Andy'' Williams, a 15-year-old high school 
student, snapped. By all accounts, this was a child who was a frequent 
victim of bullies and was picked on by others at school. A troubled 
child is a sad reality in America today, but a troubled child with a 
gun is a tragedy waiting to happen.
  Gun safety is not the only issue this tragedy highlights. We need to 
encourage adults and students to listen more carefully and take swifter 
action when young people make threats of gun violence. We need more 
counselors in our Nation's schools who can help young people deal with 
the pressures of growing up. But we also must prevent troubled children 
from obtaining firearms.
  Once again, I come to the floor to renew my plea--the American 
people's plea--for Congress to do the right thing, to pass commonsense 
gun safety legislation. We can continue to throw our hands in the air, 
shrug our shoulders, and hope this problem will go away by itself--
sadly, we know better--or we can begin to face the reality of our 
situation: We live in a country populated by 281 million people and an 
estimated 200 million firearms.
  Our Consumer Product Safety Commission can regulate the design of a 
toy gun, to make sure it will not pinch the finger of a child, but the 
National Rifle Association has made sure that this same agency has no 
authority to regulate the safety of a real gun that could blow off a 
child's finger or worse.

  Anyone--let me repeat, anyone--can walk into a gun show today and 
walk out with an unlimited supply of firearms--no documentation, no 
background check, no questions asked. And yet we express surprise when, 
year after year, our children are left defenseless as they attempt to 
dodge bullets at their schools. We use words such as ``tragedy'' and 
``shock'' to describe the aftermath of school shootings, when we know 
they are foreseeable--we know they are foreseeable.
  Some in this Senate have argued that the reasonable gun safety 
legislation we have proposed on this side of the aisle will not reduce 
gun violence. They said the same thing about the Brady bill, too. They 
were wrong then; they are wrong now.
  It is not enough to wait for deaths caused by gun violence and then 
``enforce the law'' against those who violate it. We must work to 
aggressively prevent gun violence before it happens, not merely enforce 
the law after the school shootings.
  We must cut off the avenues for children to obtain firearms.
  The American people are very clear on this issue, but Congress drags 
its feet, offering empty excuses for why we cannot pass any gun safety 
legislation. And what are the excuses? A background check at a gun show 
cannot be passed by Congress, according to the NRA, because it violates 
the second amendment. Requiring a child safety lock to be sold with a 
handgun somehow, according to the NRA, imposes an unreasonable burden 
on gun stores and manufacturers. A 3-day waiting period for a handgun--
well, the NRA says that clearly violates our second amendment 
constitutional right.
  This is a phony facade and a phony argument, one that continues to 
endanger our children in the one place in their lives they should 
expect to be safe at every moment--at school. In all likelihood, after 
the headlines on this most recent shooting will die down, this Congress 
will return to blissful ignorance with respect to the gun problem in 
America. But how many more tragedies, such as the one we have seen in 
California yesterday, have to happen before Congress finally takes 
action? How many?
  Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control reveal that gun 
violence takes the lives of over 30,000 Americans every year, including 
4,000 children. No other nation on Earth has this many gun deaths. When 
will this problem be big enough for Congress to care? Maybe at 35,000 
deaths, 40,000, 100,000? What will it take?
  I watched yesterday while this California shooting tragedy unfolded, 
and I couldn't help but recall Columbine. Only 2 years ago, I walked 
into that Cloakroom and watched the live television coverage of 
students and teachers running and hiding in an effort to escape open 
gunfire at a school in a ``safe neighborhood.'' I remember the terror 
and shock on their faces. I remember the child hanging out of the 
window with one of his arms extended and bloody. I remember the 
funerals of the 12 young students and the teacher who died as a result. 
Almost 2 years have passed since the Columbine tragedy. Now we have 
another high school tragedy in another safe neighborhood, but still 
Congress refuses to enact sensible gun safety legislation.
  Last May mothers across America celebrated Mother's Day, not by 
staying home with their families and cooking their favorite dish or by 
getting breakfast in bed. They went out and marched. They marched 
against gun violence. I joined them on the shore of Lake Michigan as 
hundreds, maybe thousands gathered to make it clear to Congressmen and 
Senators alike that they had had enough as mothers. They called on 
Congress to pass commonsense gun safety legislation. Several of my 
colleagues and I participated in the march. These moms are mad. They 
will have their day.
  This is a new Congress with a 50/50 split. We found time in this new 
Congress to consider voiding worker safety legislation. We will find 
time in this Congress to deal with bankruptcy, clamping down on those 
who file for bankruptcy but not on the credit industry. And now, sadly, 
we will find time for a lot of other issues other than gun safety. We 
haven't heard any clamor from the other side about the need to address 
gun violence. Mothers are burying their children before they have a 
chance to raise them while this Congress stands idly by.
  Commonsense gun safety legislation, that is all the American people 
are asking for. As yesterday's shooting tragedy in California tells us, 
this Congress must act and act now.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that when the final order is 
entered this evening, the Democratic time for morning business be 
controlled as follows: 10 minutes each for Senators Feinstein, 
Feingold, and Lincoln, and 15 minutes for Senator Clinton and Senator 
Biden.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. REID. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

[[Page S1889]]

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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