[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 7256-7257]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              GUN CONTROL

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, first let me commend the Senator from 
Vermont for his remarks. As always, they are considered and thoughtful 
and right to the point. His career and legislation has been just the 
same way. I consider myself, as always, privileged to be here to listen 
to his remarks. I thank the Senator. I also thank the Senator from 
Maine for her courtesy, allowing me to make these brief remarks before 
she makes hers.
  Mr. President, as we remain transfixed and horrified by the images of 
Littleton, as we listen to the stories of the survivors and hear the 
sobs of the families of the victims, we can feel that America is 
looking to Congress to do something to keep lethal weapons out of the 
hands of kids. This morning I watched television as did millions of 
Americans. My eyes filled with tears, listening to the families of the 
students talk about their ideal, and to hear them ask what can be done. 
Since time began, there have been troubled teenagers. We have always 
sought to help them through their families, through spiritual 
leadership, through schools. That is nothing new. But what is new today 
is that it is far too easy for a disturbed young person to get his 
hands on a gun or a bomb and channel his anger into carnage.
  Mr. President, 25 years ago all an angry, troubled teenager had was 
his fists. Scores of students were not killed when that troubled boy 
vented his rage. Today we live in a different world. It is no 
coincidence that the tragedies that we have heard and read about 
throughout the last year did not occur 10, 15, and 20 years ago with 
this kind of horror, with this kind of frequency.
  In Littleton, we do not know how these two teenagers managed to get 
their guns. We don't know if they took the guns from their parents or 
stole them from a neighbor. We don't know if they bought them at a gun 
show or if they bought their guns off the Internet, although certainly 
they were immersed in a computer fantasy world, and there are dozens of 
web sites that offer guns to anyone, anywhere, no questions asked.
  We know that gun control alone is not the only solution. We need 
better counseling in the schools. We have to be more vigilant at 
identifying and condemning hate groups in schools. But, my colleagues, 
let us not kid ourselves. It is not possible to confront the

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epidemic of violence in our schools without dealing with guns.
  Yesterday there was a shift in the gun debate that I have never seen 
before in my career in Congress, and it gives me a glimmer of hope that 
maybe we can do something to make schools safer. Yesterday, pro-gun 
lawmakers of Colorado, Florida, and Illinois each withdrew their 
legislation which would have made it easier for people in those States 
to buy and/or carry firearms.
  They did it because of Littleton. They did it because they know that 
the easy availability of guns is part of the problem. They put a stop 
to their own legislation.
  Yesterday, the National Rifle Association scaled back its annual 
convention, which is to be held in 2 weeks. It will not admit it, but 
the NRA did it because of Littleton. It will not admit that it is 
simple common sense that rational gun control equals fewer Littletons, 
but in its collective heart, the NRA knows that that is true.
  So in a small but significant way, the NRA has changed. Now we have 
to change. Congress has to wake up. America's mothers and fathers are 
looking to us. To my Democratic and Republican colleagues, many of whom 
have traditionally opposed gun restrictions, we can pass reasonable, 
targeted, measured laws that make guns safer and keep them away from 
kids but still respect people's right to bear arms.
  I would like to mention several of these modest measures, measures 
that will make a great deal of difference and have little or no impact 
on the people in your State who hunt, who target shoot, who own guns 
for sport, collection, or protection.
  We should pass the parts of either the Kennedy or the Durbin 
legislation which require adults to safely store their handguns and 
rifles in their homes. Nearly every day, some kid takes their parent's 
gun and does something horrible with it. Why? Because half the families 
who own guns do not lock them away or leave the gun unloaded. We can 
change that, and we should change that. No one will be harmed, and no 
one will be inconvenienced.
  We have to ban the unlicensed sale of guns on the Internet. It is 
numbing what a kid can buy simply by going on line and searching gun 
web sites--handguns, semiautomatic weapons, ammunition feeders; 
everything is available with no questions asked. This morning, a parent 
came up to me and said he asked his son how kids get guns. His son 
answered, without a blink of the eye: ``On the Internet.''
  I have a bill which will stop that. It will have no effect on law-
abiding gun owners or licensed gun dealers. Ask yourself: Who needs to 
buy a gun with no questions asked? The answer is only two groups--kids 
and criminals. Let's pass this bill.
  We should also bring public and private dollars together to develop 
smart guns. These are guns which contain a device that permits only the 
owner to fire the weapon. Imagine a gun that is useless when it is 
stolen, taken without authorization, or sold on the black market. It 
can be done. The technology is available. I will talk more in the next 
week about ways we can bring gun makers and the military together to 
develop a gun that is safe. This could transform the gun industry and 
make us all rest easier.
  Finally, and in the meantime, let's make a strong, secure trigger-
lock requirement on all guns. Every car has a seat belt; every gun 
should have a lock.
  Mr. President, each of these measures will make schools, homes, and 
neighborhoods safer without denying a single law-abiding citizen the 
right to buy the gun of their choice. How can anyone oppose that?
  In conclusion, every time we tune in and see another group of 
innocent children fleeing from school, we pray that it will be the last 
time. We can help make our prayers come true. America is waiting for us 
to do what is right and necessary to keep guns out of the hands of 
kids. Let's not let them down.
  I yield back the remainder of my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.
  Ms. COLLINS. I thank the Chair.
  (The remarks of Ms. Collins pertaining to the introduction of S. 870 
are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')

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