[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9861]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



     COMMON SENSE GUN LEGISLATION AND THE DEATH OF LORI GONZALEZ, 
        GRANDDAUGHTER OF LOS ANGELES POLICE CHIEF BERNARD PARKS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Mr. Speaker, I would like to give a tissue to 
the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) after the last game of the 
Pacers and Lakers, when that happens.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight because I think we were all excited last 
week as we went to our districts for our District Work Period for a 
week. And I was excited because first, I received the President and CEO 
of Amtrak coming in to Los Angeles to show the high-speed rail that we 
are trying to get to move people and goods throughout the State of 
California and all across the Nation.

                              {time}  2030

  All of California was quite excited about that.
  I also had the privilege of opening up a one-stop capital shop for 
small businesses to grow, to expand, and to have job creation through 
the Small Business Administration. The small business administrator, 
Ms. Aida Alvarez, came to open up this shop. I had the mayor of Los 
Angeles, Richard Riordan.
  I even received an award, Mr. Speaker, on my legislation from 
pediatric asthma from the Asthma Foundation. I went to Sacramento to 
talk to the Governor and its people about funding for higher education.
  So I thought it was a good week until the moment came where I got the 
call that one of our young women again had fallen to gun violence. This 
young woman, Lori Gonzalez, was the granddaughter of our chief of 
police Bernard Parks.
  I guess I stand tonight once again to remind this Congress how 
important it is to pass meaningful gun safety reform. Because of the 
recent death of Lori Gonzalez, 20 years old, had not reached her adult 
life, and of the many who have fallen to gun violence, I urge this 
Congress to swiftly move to protect our Nation's children and its 
communities by approving common sense gun safety provisions.
  Just a few weeks ago, I joined with other mothers in my community in 
Los Angeles and the thousands and thousands of mothers across this 
Nation who marched in Washington and 71 other cities to call on this 
Congress to finally enact common sense gun legislation.
  On Mother's Day, we paused to remember the thousands of children who 
have been killed by gunfire and to pray that our message would finally 
move Congress to address this very critical issue before another day 
passes and another one of our Nation's children would be lost to 
gunfire.
  In the weeks since Mother's Day, Congress has continued to sit idle, 
refusing to answer the prayers of, not just the Nation's mothers, but 
of the majority of Americans who favor the passage of common sense gun 
legislation. Today and every day gun violence continues to plague our 
communities and has taken the lives of innocent victims like Lori 
Gonzalez.
  With the ineptitude and stagnation that has infiltrated the halls of 
Congress, I would unfortunately be fooling myself if I thought the 
death of one individual, Lori Gonzalez, could once again get this 
Congress to take up meaningful gun legislation.
  This is the Congress that has done nothing in the wake of the 
horrible shootings in Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. 
This is the same Congress that has ignored every shooting in the past 
years simply accepting shootings as a part of daily life in America.
  Lori Gonzalez, as I said, the daughter of Los Angeles Chief Bernard 
Parks was gunned down over the Memorial weekend outside of the fast 
food restaurant in Los Angeles. This could be any child because our 
kids do like to go to fast food restaurants, Mr. Speaker, even my 
grandchildren and even my adult children.
  Ms. Gonzalez was a Saddleback College English student, was killed one 
week shy of her 21st birthday. Her friends and family have spoken about 
Ms. Gonzalez's high spirit and boundless energy. They spoke of a young 
woman who, with huge ambitions, urged smaller kids to reach for the 
stars and have hope in her small acts of kindness like soothing the 
ache of a burn victim, helping to stucco houses in Mexico and of her 
passion for helping the children in her community.
  I say to my colleagues I call on this Congress to pass the gun safety 
lock bill that I introduced in the 105th Congress and the 106th 
Congress. We can ill-afford to have another gun violence victim in this 
Nation.

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