[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Page 27584]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 27584]]

                    CHILDREN'S MARCH FOR GUN CONTROL

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, yesterday, students from around the country 
came to Washington to ask for help. Students participating in the 
Children's March for Gun Control marched hand-in-hand to Capitol Hill
with a simple demand: to keep them safe from guns.

  Members of Congress should tune out the NRA, and start listening to 
these children--who have to face the fear of guns everyday. The 
children from across the country are pleading that Congress create an 
environment free from fear and violence. These children are armed, not 
with firearms, but with letters, urging Congress to end the epidemic of 
gun violence that claims the lives of thousands of their peers each 
year.
  Yet, while Congress should be passing comprehensive legislation to 
prevent school shootings like those in Conyers, Littleton, Springfield, 
Edinboro, Jonesboro, West Paducah, Pearl and the many others, it cannot 
even muster enough votes to take UZIs and AK-47s out of the hands of
15 year olds. After Columbine, the Senate took a few steps to protect 
children from gun violence. We passed legislation to prohibit
juveniles from owning semiautomatic weapons and large capacity
ammunition devices. We passed an amendment to require that handguns
be sold with trigger locking devices to protect children. And we
passed an amendment to close the gun show loophole, ensuring
juveniles and others cannot use these shows as a convenient way to
circumvent the safeguards applied to normal sales through licensed
gun dealers.
  That legislation was a first step, but it still falls short of 
closing loopholes which allow our youth easy access to deadly weapons. 
For example, one of our most important tasks yet will be to ban 
handguns and semiautomatic assault weapons for persons under 21 years 
of age. Yet, even the most minimal effort to end gun violence has been 
stymied in the House of Representatives, where they have passed no gun 
safety legislation. And any effort to come to some agreement has been 
repeatedly stalled by the Republican leadership.
  It was great to welcome such a group of dedicated young people to the 
nation's Capitol. I encourage them to keep up their effort and to speak 
out for those children who have been silenced by guns. Over time, these 
children are sure to accomplish what other nations have done: end the 
plague of gun violence.

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