[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 43 (Thursday, March 15, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S1729]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     SCHOOL GUN VIOLENCE PROTECTION

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, as news reports focus on yet another 
horrific shooting in an American school, we must again confront the 
simple and sad truth: tragedies like this are often preventable. On 
February 27, 17-year-old T.J. Lane opened fire in his high school 
cafeteria in Chardon, OH, killing three of his classmates and wounding 
two other students.
  This is a narrative we have heard over and over again. Lane is 
believed to have taken the gun from his grandfather's barn. Similar to 
what happened 5 days earlier in Port Orchard, WA, when a 9-year-old boy 
accidentally shot his classmate with a .45-caliber handgun he took from 
his mother's house. Or in 2009, when a 15-year-old boy was 
institutionalized after stealing three guns and hundreds of rounds of 
ammunition from his father as part of a plan to shoot other students at 
Pottstown High School in Philadelphia. Sadly, these are not rare 
circumstances. A 2000 study by the U.S. Secret Service found that in 
more than 65 percent of school shootings, the attacker got the gun from 
his or her own home or from a relative.
  The guardians of these children never intended for their firearms to 
be used for harm. But they left their loaded guns without any measures 
to prevent their children--or anyone else--from using them 
irresponsibly. According to reports by the Legal Community Against 
Violence, in a nation where approximately one-third of households with 
minors have a firearm, studies have shown that 55 percent of these 
households store one or more of their guns unlocked. Another study 
showed that 22 percent of the parents who claimed their children had 
never handled their firearms were contradicted by their children. When 
it comes to gun safety, a young person's curiosity and recklessness can 
be a dangerous thing.
  It is imperative that gun owners across the country safely store 
their weapons out of the reach of young people. But despite these 
troubling statistics, there are no Federal laws that prevent adults 
from leaving firearms easily accessible to children and minors. Some 
State and local governments around the Nation have adopted child 
firearm access prevention measures, and these laws work. From 1990 to 
1994, in the 12 States where child access prevention laws had been in 
effect for at least 1 year, unintentional firearm deaths fell by 23 
percent among children under the age of 15. Laws that encourage parents 
to keep their firearms locked and unloaded, to store their ammunition 
in a locked location separate from their firearms, and to educate their 
children on proper gun use and safety, would help prevent shootings 
involving children and teenagers.
  We must not wait for the next Chardon High School or the next 
Virginia Tech or the next Columbine. Commonsense gun safety legislation 
protects our schools, our universities, our religious institutions, and 
our homes from gun violence. But despite this evidence, legislation has 
been introduced in this Congress to dismantle the few Federal gun 
safety provisions that protect the American people. I urge our 
colleagues to support sensible gun safety measures that could prevent 
tragedies like the one unfolding in Ohio.

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