[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Page 25583]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                            TEENAGE TRAGEDY

 Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, the city of Detroit is grieving over 
the loss of Cody High School sophomore Darryl Towns, who was fatally 
shot just days before his sixteenth birthday. Darryl was murdered in 
his own backyard over a minor dispute that eventually turned into a 
major tragedy. What started off as a fist fight between life long 
friends ended up in murder: three fatal shots with a semiautomatic 
pistol.
  Now, Darryl's community is left in shock as they grieve over the 
``foolish'' and ``senseless'' death of their friend, known among many 
as a ``respectful,'' ``responsible'' young man. Friends and parents are 
forced to ask the troubling question: If a person like Darryl, who 
stayed out of trouble, isn't safe from gun violence, who among our 
teens is safe? Unfortunately, there is no one who can answer that 
question or predict the future. Yet, common sense tells us that the 
widespread proliferation of guns will only result in additional 
tragedies like Darryl's.
  I urge my colleagues to take up a meaningful debate on gun safety and 
end the easy access to weapons that results in the destruction of so 
many young lives. I submit for the Record a letter printed in the 
Detroit Free Press, written to Darryl's mother, Annette Towns, 
expressing sympathy over such a difficult loss.
  The letter follows.

             [From the Detroit Free Press, Sept. 15, 1999]

                  Mothers: Teach Sons About Love, Guns

                           (By Kim Kingston)

       Darryl Towns, 15, died senselessly and tragically on Sept. 
     9 (``Slaying questioned: One teen in custody is a childhood 
     friend,'' Sept. 11). Many of us knew of him only as ``the 
     baby.'' Most of us knew him through the stories from a 
     mother's heart--of trials and tribulations, and the joys and 
     challenges of trying to raise a son up right.
       Some of us knew only his voice, as it changed over the 
     years from that of a soft-spoken boy to that of a man, 
     calling his mom every evening at work, just to check in. His 
     mama was always saying with a glitter of pride in her eye: 
     ``He's such a good and responsible boy.'' Fifteen years of 
     love and dedication were ripped away in an instant by a 
     senseless act, so very irreversible.
       For every mother of every son, teach your sons the 
     magnitude of a mother's love, and how guns lead to the 
     destruction of so many lives--but none so insurmountable as 
     that of a mother's anguish at the loss of her son.
       Guns have no place in untrained hands--your hand or my 
     hands--let alone in the emotionally charged squabbles of 
     teenaged boys. The only ones powerful enough to stop it are 
     the young men themselves--young men like Darryl, who stood 
     apart from some of his peers. He didn't carry a gun. He tried 
     to do what was right.
       If his death could change the heart of just one boy, then 
     he would not have died in vain.
       To Annette, his Mother: We, your friends at work, want to 
     thank you for sharing a part of your dear son with us through 
     your eyes.
       To Darryl, forever ``Mama's Baby'': We dedicate you to a 
     better, safer place in the loving arms of your 
     Creator.

                          ____________________