[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8557]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



    IN SUPPORT OF TOUGH GUN LEGISLATION AFTER THE MILLION MOMS MARCH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rush) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today a week after the Million Mom 
March to remind the Congress that even though the march is over, the 
cause is not. On the eve of the march, some argued that we were being 
rabble-rousers and troublemakers. They argued then and they still argue 
that we are too emotional in pulling for tough gun control legislation, 
common sense gun control legislation. The National Rifle Association 
argues that we need, and I quote, gun education and not gun 
legislation, end of quote.
  Well, as we all know, you cannot teach a child not to be a child. We 
all know that children often lash out in anger, without thinking, and 
they later wish that the things done and said can be taken back. But 
once a trigger is pulled, that bullet cannot be brought back. And those 
who, approximately 1 year after Columbine, still think that it is not 
their problem, I am here to tell you that once a bullet leaves the 
barrel of a gun, it does not care whether the child pulling it is rich, 
poor, black or white, they do not care where the child firing that gun 
is from, it does not care what sort of car that child's parents drive. 
A bullet does not care whether that child lives inside or outside of 
the Beltway, and a bullet does not care whether that child's mother or 
father is a bus driver, a lawyer or a Member of Congress.
  So to the millions of mothers from all across this country who either 
attended or supported the Million Mom March, continue to raise your 
voices in support of tough common sense gun laws.
  And to our critics who say that we are too emotional, I say yes, we 
are emotional over the gun control issue. The emotion we feel is sorrow 
over the senseless killing of our youth. And the emotion that I feel is 
frustration that we have not passed common sense gun legislation. The 
frustration that I feel is that we have not closed the gun show 
loophole, frustration that we have not required child safety locks for 
handguns, frustration that we have not banned the importation of large 
capacity ammunition magazines, and frustration that we have not 
encouraged the development of smart gun technology.

                              {time}  2030

  In short, Mr. Speaker, I feel frustration and shame that we as a body 
have not heard the pleas of millions of mothers and fathers who want us 
to help stop the destruction of America's families.

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