[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 1876-1878]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                              GUN CONTROL

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, none of us can possibly ignore what 
took place yesterday in Michigan. Another child killed by gunfire. 
Everywhere across the country we see children killing children. And 
then we see members of the immediate family their faces contorted by 
sadness. Anyone who has a child or grandchild has to be dismayed and 
upset by these tragedies.
  I am fortunate enough to have seven grandchildren, the oldest of whom 
is 6. Nothing is more joyful than to see their smiling faces--to see 
them learning about life, reading, playing, and singing.
  And when I think of my grandchildren, and the other children across 
this country, I ask myself what it will take to stop the gun violence. 
When will this Congress say we have enough killing? What does it take 
to change some minds, to say that guns do kill?
  I am so tired of that foolish saying: ``guns don't kill people, 
people kill people.'' Of course, people kill people, but we would see 
much less deadly violence if we passed common sense gun safety 
measures. It is getting close to the 1-year anniversary of the tragedy 
at Columbine. I will never forget the picture of the child hanging out 
of the window at that school, looking for help, trying to get away from 
the terror. I thought that terrible violence--12 children killed and 
many more seriously injured--would force this Congress to act.
  And yet there has been much more gun violence since Columbine. 
Shootings in Georgia; in Ft. Worth, Texas, at a prayer meeting. Those 
young people were gathered to worship and along comes someone with a 
gun and kills them. And then a gunman in California attacks children at 
a day care. After that terrible assault, the gunman goes on to kill a 
postal worker because he is Filipino and not white.
  When will the National Rifle Association and its friends step up to 
the issue, not always appealing to the extremists, and say there is a 
sensible way to approach this problem and reduce the proliferation of 
guns? They

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should join with us and help close the gun show loophole that allows 
guns to be sold without a criminal background check.
  A person could be one the 10 most wanted criminals in this country 
and say to one of the dealers: I have $500; give me a couple of guns. 
The dealer could sell them, and he would not be breaking the law. It is 
an outrage.
  Of course, some who oppose gun safety legislation talk about the 
Second Amendment. But there is nothing in the Constitution that says 
citizens can buy a gun without identifying themselves. There is nothing 
in the Constitution that says, buy a gun, carry it anyplace you want. 
No, no; there are overriding considerations that say we have to protect 
our citizens. We put people in uniform to protect our citizens. 
Sometimes it is a military uniform, sometimes it is a police uniform. 
We do it to protect our citizens. Why don't we reduce the possibility 
that a gun might be introduced into a situation?
  In 1996, Congress did pass my domestic violence gun ban. There was a 
huge fight on the floor of this Senate and the House. In cooperation 
with President Clinton, on the budget bill, we said anybody who has 
committed a misdemeanor of spousal abuse or abusing a child, that 
person should not have a gun. We fought like the devil. People said we 
have no right to take guns away from people who haven't done something 
serious.
  But domestic violence is serious. And guns make domestic violence 
incidents even more dangerous. The trigger does not have to be pulled 
to traumatize a spouse or a child. Let a man put a gun to a woman's 
head and say: I will blow your brains out in front of your children. 
That is a wound that does not go away in a hurry. Doctors cannot see 
that wound on the skin, but it does not go away.
  Mr. President, since that law went into effect, 33,000 purchases have 
been prevented. 33,000 of those wife abusers, spousal abusers, could 
not get a gun. I feel good about it. And I still cannot understand 
those people who opposed it and who continue to oppose gun safety 
measures. They seem to want guns for everyone, wherever they want, at 
any age, it doesn't matter, hide them, conceal them, do what you want.
  That is irresponsible. And we should not have people hiding behind 
empty slogans like ``guns don't kill people''. Or trying to distort the 
meaning of the Second Amendment. No one has a right to hurt another. 
That is not in the Constitution.
  Just a few minutes ago we learned that there was another shooting 
near Pittsburgh. We don't have all the details, but someone shot four 
people in a McDonald's and then went to a Burger King and shot someone 
else.
  So the gun violence continues, week by week, day by day, hour by 
hour. Yesterday it was a six-year-old in Michigan killing another 
child. And we ask ourselves what can be done. Do you put a 6-year-old 
in jail? Do you lock him up in a cell? Or do you say to a parent or a 
friend: It is your responsibility?
  If you own a car, you have no right to give it to somebody who 
doesn't know how to drive and tell them to have a good time. That can 
be criminally prosecuted if a person has an accident. Why is a gun 
different? Why shouldn't all guns be protected from access by 
unacceptable users, children, deranged people, et cetera?
  We ought to do it. We keep avoiding it with silly excuses in this 
place. I hope people across America understand we ought to stop this 
now. We can require gun manufacturers to manufacture guns that don't 
work except in the hands of an authorized user. Thirteen children a day 
die from gunshots; over 4,500 kids a year. We can pass a bill that 
Senator Durbin from Illinois has authored, the Child Access Prevention 
Act. It imposes criminal penalties on gun owners who allow children 
access to their guns.
  And we ought to take stronger measures to prevent easy access to 
guns. Closing the gun show loophole which allows criminals to purchase 
firearms without a background check will help. Let me give a graphic 
example why we cannot afford to wait any longer to do this.
  Every year, several gun shows are held in Portland, OR at the Expo 
Center. The Expo Center is managed by a commission established by the 
local government, the Metropolitan Exposition-Recreation Commission, 
called Metro for short. Metro officials were concerned about possible 
criminal activity at gun shows, so they looked at police records and 
put together a report. Here is what they found:

       Investigative reports from the Portland Police Bureau 
     demonstrate a continuing pattern of frequent significant 
     criminal activity associated with the Rose City gun shows at 
     the Expo Center.

  And the report gives examples of that criminal activity. Here is an 
example:

       Three subjects were observed in the gun show wearing gang 
     attire. The three subjects were looking for dealers who do 
     not do background checks. One of the subjects attempted to 
     purchase a Glock pistol without any paperwork. The subjects 
     bought 4 high capacity magazines and exited the show. 
     Officers contacted the subjects and found one subject all in 
     red to be 12 years old. The second subject all in blue had a 
     warrant for his arrest. The last subject was found to be an 
     ex-felon. The two adults were arrested and transported to NE 
     precinct. At the NE precinct officers found marijuana 
     packaged for sale and $1,150 in the last subject's shoe. He 
     was charged with delivery of a controlled substance.

  So we have gang members--drug dealers--using a gun show as a 
convenience store for guns. These gang members were looking for gun 
sellers who were not required to do criminal background checks.
  And this testimony is similar to what we heard from Robyn Anderson 
when she testified before the Colorado legislature. She is the young 
woman who went with Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold to the Tanner Gun 
Show in Adams County, Colorado.
  She testified that Harris and Klebold went from table to table at the 
gun show, looking for gun sellers who were not required to complete a 
background check.
  With her help, Harris and Klebold bought two shotguns and a rifle 
without a criminal background check. And everybody knows what happened 
after that. They used those guns to murder fellow students and a 
teacher at Columbine High School. How much more do we need to know 
before we do the sensible thing and close this loophole?
  Gang members and teenagers bent on committing murder know they can go 
to a gun show and get a firearm if they want, without a background 
check. Is there anyone around here who actually thinks that is all 
right? Good friends on the other side, good friends on both sides will 
sometimes defend gun ownership blindly. But we should all agree that 
you should not be able to buy a gun without identifying yourself and 
having a criminal background check.
  The gun lobby says we do not need a new law, all we need to do is 
enforce the current law. But that completely misses the point. There is 
a loophole in the law, so when you try to enforce it, criminals simply 
slip through the loophole. This hole in our gun laws is leaking human 
lives and we ought to plug it before someone else is killed with a 
pistol or shotgun purchased at a gun show without a background check. 
People ought to identify themselves when they buy a gun. Why not?
  Some of our colleagues who argue against closing this loophole are 
the same people who go on and on about the need to get tough on crime. 
But when it comes to this gaping loophole in our gun laws, they are 
strangely quiet. All of us know why. Those tough-on-crime Members do 
not hear the huge majority of the people. Ninety percent of the people 
in this country, according to a recent poll, are calling for us to 
close this loophole. They do not hear the cries, see the tears of those 
who have lost a child, a friend, a relative. But what do they hear? 
They hear the NRA making deposits to their campaign accounts. They hear 
the NRA saying: Do nothing and we will keep these campaign 
contributions coming.
  I have been fighting this battle for a long time, almost a year now 
on this specific issue. Back on May 20, 9 months ago, the Senate passed 
my amendment to close the gun show loophole. It passed 51-50, with a 
huge struggle. But the Congress has yet to finish

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the job because the NRA has been putting its money to work making sure 
my amendment stays bottled up in a conference committee.
  Let's do the right thing and set this legislation free. Let's not 
allow extremists in the gun lobby to prevail over the families across 
this country who want to stop the gun violence.
  April 20 will mark 1 year since the terrible tragedy at Columbine 
High School. On that day, people across this country will ask, What has 
Congress done? What have you done to stop gun violence in this country? 
What have you done to protect my child, my grandchild, my brother, my 
sister, my parents from this mad gun violence? It is not too late to 
give the public the answer they want, the answer they deserve. It is 
not too late to show them that common sense can prevail in this 
distinguished place.

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