[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12813]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                      ERODING THE SECOND AMENDMENT

  (Mr. KINGSTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, when the President says put people first, 
what he means, particularly this week, is put politicians first, put 
political people first, because this week, as we further erode the 
second amendment, we are not putting people first, we are not putting 
children first, we are not putting safety first, and we are certainly 
not putting the facts first. But we hear over and over again, no, we 
are just closing a few loopholes. This is common sense, reasonable, 
sensible. Yet it goes far beyond closing loopholes in gun shows. It 
calls for registration of people's guns who go to gun shows, permanent 
registration. It calls for a 6-month background check that is kept by 
the FBI for 6 months, and many, many other measures that have nothing 
to do with closing loopholes.
  Mr. Speaker, in Columbine High School, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris 
broke 23 gun control laws. In Heritage High School, the young man broke 
into his father's gun cabinet to steal a well-protected gun. Yet we 
have to ask ourselves, maybe there is something beyond gun control that 
could prevent these things from happening, because gun control is not 
working. It did not work in these two cases.
  What about the violent video, the violent TV? What about the music? 
What about children being raised without parents? It seems in today's 
society, where there are no absolutes, no truths, there are also no 
values.
  This week is not about children, it is about politics.

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