[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 87 (Friday, May 25, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1153-E1154]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO MR. TEX BJORKLUND

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                             HON. BILL SALI

                                of idaho

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 24, 2007

  Mr. SALI. Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join me 
in recognizing the accomplishments of Mr. Tex Bjorklund.
  During the 1950's, Tex Bjorklund was a police officer with the Los 
Angeles Police Department. While on patrol, he received a call to 
respond to a shooting at a nearby location. Upon arriving at the scene 
Mr. Bjorklund discovered the body of a 7-year-old girl who accidentally 
had shot and killed herself with a handgun found in the glove 
compartment of a car.
  Deeply moved, Tex began working on a way to help prevent this kind of 
tragedy from recurring. As a result, he invented a device that would 
not only allow Americans to retain their right to keep and bear arms 
but also keep children from hurting themselves by using firearms. In 
fact, Tex was one of the first people to devise what we call today a 
``trigger lock''.
  Unlike advocates of sweeping gun restrictions, Mr. Bjorklund realized 
gun-related problems were not the weapons themselves but rather those 
who misuse them. In the wrong hands a weapon can be misused by those 
too young to understand the deadly force guns possess or by those who 
mean to do us harm.
  Tex saw the need for a device that would ensure firearms are operated 
only for their intended use. Subsequently, Mr. Bjorklund began a quest 
to invent such a product. Today there are hundreds of different models 
of locks for many models of firearms.
  We will never truly know how many lives Mr. Bjorklund saved, but it 
is fitting we honor him today for his invention.

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