[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2538]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                   HONORING THE LIFE OF KAYLA ROLLAND

  (Mr. PASCRELL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I think it is appropriate to take a moment 
this morning to honor little Kayla Rolland. As a father and 
grandfather, I can understand the love that Kayla's family feels for 
her. Six-year-old Kayla was gunned down in a playground in Michigan 1 
year ago. Her killer, a classmate in the first grade, had found a 
loaded gun at home. The tragic death of little Kayla has shaken us all 
and must force us to ask the question, how can we allow these gun-
related tragedies to happen and not respond? Kayla's fate is not 
uncommon.
  Mr. Speaker, do my colleagues know that more than 800 Americans die 
each year from guns shot from children under the age of 19? Do they 
know that the rate of firearm deaths of children 1 to 14 years of age 
is nearly 12 times higher in the United States than in all of the top 
25 industrialized countries? If they did not know that, they should.
  Whether it is childproof guns, whether it is personalized weapons, we 
need to come together on both sides of the aisle to do something that 
makes common sense.

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