[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 78 (Thursday, June 7, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5956-S5957]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             KIDS AND GUNS

  Mr. LEVIN. Madam President, the June issue of the journal Pediatrics 
reports the results of a disturbing study on children and guns. A 
journal article describes an experiment conducted by researchers from 
Emory University School of Medicine and Children's Healthcare of 
Atlanta-Egleston Hospital. The researchers wanted to determine how 
sixty four eight to twelve year old boys would behave when they found a 
handgun in a presumably unthreatening environment.
  Researchers placed groups of two or three boys in a room with a one 
way mirror. Two water pistols and an actual .380 caliber handgun were 
concealed in separate drawers in the room. When left alone for a mere 
15 minutes, nearly three quarters of the groups found the handgun. Of 
those groups, more than three quarters handled the guns. And 16 boys--
one out of every four in the study--actually pulled the trigger. And 
none of these boys knew that the gun was not loaded. Perhaps most 
distressing is the fact that more than 90 percent of those who handled 
the gun or pulled the trigger had some form of gun safety instruction.
  Despite this study and countless other examples of the potentially 
lethal implications of mixing kids and guns, the National Rifle 
Association

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has not strayed from its mantra. When asked about the Emory study, an 
NRA spokesman was reported to have said simply ``You can certainly 
assume that the findings are artificial.''
  But I think Emory's Dr. Arthur Kellermann, a co-author of the study, 
had it right. Dr Kellerman said, ``Since we can't make kids gun proof, 
why can't we make guns kid proof?'' That makes sense to me. So while 
the NRA is free to bury its head in the sand, we are not. We in the 
Congress have a moral responsibility to stand up for what's right, 
close the loopholes in our gun laws, and make our nation a little safer 
for our children and our grandchildren.

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