[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 193]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      THE NEED FOR GUN LEGISLATION

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, at end of the First Session of this 
Congress, as I have before, I urged my colleagues to debate and pass 
sensible gun safety legislation. Since that statement, we have seen 
three separate incidences of gun violence in our Nation's schools. In 
New York City, a teenager walked into a high school and seriously 
wounded two other students. In Grundy, VA, a man walked into a law 
school and shot and killed three people. In Raymond, MS, a 17-year-old 
student who had just been suspended, returned to school and held the 
principal and assistant principal hostage at gunpoint for nearly three 
hours.
  These are not simply isolated events. According to the Children's 
Defense Fund Study of 2001 gun violence data, 3,365 children and teens 
were killed by gunfire in the United States last year, which is one 
child every 2\1/2\ hours. And, every year, four to five times as many 
children and teens suffer from non-fatal firearm injuries. The safety 
of our children and communities are at stake and access to guns is a 
major reason why. As we begin a new session of Congress, I once again 
urge the Senate to close the gun show loophole, prevent children from 
gaining access to guns and provide law enforcement the tools they need 
to investigate gun-related crimes.

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