[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3809-3810]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 GUN-RELATED DEATHS ARE STILL TOO HIGH

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, the Centers' for Disease Control most 
recent National Vital Statistics Report, which measures all causes of 
death in the United States reports that the death rate from firearm 
injuries dropped nearly 6 percent from 1998 to 1999. The 1999 gun-death 
toll was 28,874 persons, the first time the figure has dropped below 
30,000 since national statistics on gun deaths were first kept in 1979. 
Preliminary data indicate that there was likely another significant 
decline in 2000. These are encouraging statistics, but the number of 
people killed by guns each year is still far too high.
  There are several important pieces of legislation before the Senate 
that were designed to address gun violence. On April 24, 2001, Senator 
Reed introduced the ``Gun Show Background Check Act.'' This bill would 
close a loophole in the law which allows unlicenced private gun sellers 
to sell guns without conducting a National Instant Criminal Background 
System check. I cosponsored that bill because I believe it would be an 
important tool to prevent guns from getting into the hands of criminals 
and other people prohibited from owning a firearm.
  The ``Use the National Instant Criminal Background System in 
Terrorist Investigations Act'' was introduced by Senator Kennedy and 
Schumer in the wake of September 11. This bill would reinstate the 90-
day period for the FBI to retain and review NICS gun purchasing data 
records for irregularities and criminal activity. The need for this 
legislation was demonstrated when the Attorney General denied the FBI 
access to the NICS database to review gun sales to individuals they had 
detained in response to the terrorist attacks. I am pleased to be a 
cosponsor of this bill and urge the Senate to act on this legislation.
  Another important component of any strategy to reduce gun violence is 
preventing children from gaining access to firearms. Senator Durbin's 
``Children's Access Prevention Act'' would hold adults who fail to lock 
up a loaded firearm or an unloaded firearm with ammunition liable if 
the weapon is taken by a child and used to kill or injure him or 
herself or another person. The bill also increases the penalties for 
selling a gun to a juvenile and creates a gun safety education program 
that includes parent-teacher organizations, local law enforcement and 
community organizations. I am also a cosponsor of this important bill 
that would help to curb the thousands of preventable firearm deaths 
that occur each year.
  The statistics I mentioned support the argument that the Brady Law is 
working to prevent gun-related deaths. However, the number of gun-
related deaths is still disturbingly high and more must be done. The 
bills I support are common sense approaches to gun-safety that deserve 
the attention of the Senate.
  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, all of us in this Chamber know the 
dedication of those on our staffs who work tirelessly to keep us 
informed and keep this process moving forward. And, once in a great 
while, a staffer comes along who becomes so much a part of the process, 
so much a presence in this place, that few can't imagine the Senate 
without them.
  Ed Hall, staff director on the Committee on Foreign Relations, is one 
of those people.
  A dedicated public servant for more almost 25 years now, he has been 
a rock-solid steady hand, an extraordinary professional, and--above 
all--a gentleman.
  Now he is completing his final week with the U.S. Senate. And we wish 
him well.
  But before he goes, I hope Ed won't mind too much, though I know he 
will, if I take a few minutes to pay tribute to him. Ed is one of those 
rare, talented staffers who always seems to know the answer before we 
ask the question. He always has the facts.
  He conscientiously attends to the details of the hearings, the 
legislation, the briefing books, the negotiations--with a trademark 
combination of wisdom and graciousness, and without ever expecting a 
word of thanks, much less an entire speech.
  All of us know and appreciate the hard work and dogged efforts of our 
staffs, but too often it goes unspoken. And rarely is it expressed on 
the Senate floor. Bud Ed Hall is an exceptional man who deserves 
exceptional recognition for making what we do here possible.
  He is here when most of us arrive. And he is here long after most of 
us have gone home.
  He is one of the most decent, hard-working, fair-minded and open-
hearted men I have met, loyal almost to a fault, a professional with no 
agenda but to promote the work of the committee, and to look after its 
staff.
  Ed is perceptive about human nature and profoundly patient with it. 
But what has always impressed me is his encyclopedic grasp of the 
legislative process, along with expert insight into parliamentary 
procedure.
  It takes that kind of experience, wisdom and finesses to get things 
done around here, and make no mistake, Ed Hall gets things done.
  Ed developed these traits, I am sure, at Harvard and Michigan, as an 
Assistant U.S. Attorney, then in private practice, the Marine Corps 
Reserve and through a series of positions of distinction on Capitol 
Hill.
  He started in 1975 with Senator Claiborne Pell on the Rules 
Committee, moving 3 years later to the Commerce Committee as Chief 
Counsel for Senator Howard Cannon.
  Then Ed practiced law for a while in Idaho, but as anyone who knows 
him could tell you, Ed Hall is no simple country lawyer, to borrow a 
phrase that was popularized by my Senate colleague Sam Ervin, who was 
here and Ed and I first arrived, so he came back to the Senate as Chief 
Counsel on the Foreign Relations Committee, again working with Senator 
Pell.
  A few years later, I had the good sense and the good fortune to 
retain Ed as Minority Staff Director.
  If there is one thing that I think I will always remember when I 
think of Ed, it is his unique take on the legislative process and the 
goings-on of the Senate.
  He has been known to say that if you know what to listen for, you 
learn after a while that the Senate produces a kind of music, combining 
rhythm, pace and melody wholly unique to this place.
  Ed Hall has always known what to listen for.

[[Page 3810]]

  As both minority and majority staff director, Ed's role has been a 
kind of conductor, orchestrating our work to the music of the Senate.
  During my time on the committee as ranking Democratic member, and 
then as chairman, Ed oversaw Senate consent to ratify the chemical 
weapons convention, the reorganization of the U.S. foreign affairs 
agencies, the debate deciding the expansion of NATO, and the 
establishment of a way to pay our country's arrearage to the United 
Nations.
  He did it in close coordination with his Republican colleagues on the 
committee--sometimes at odds over small matters of language. Sometimes 
at odds over major issues of fundamental principle. But Ed has always 
bridged the gap.
  He treats all parties with respect, and tries to accommodate all 
interests involved. His success in so doing is evidenced by the close 
personal friendship he shared with Admiral James ``Bud'' Nance, Staff 
Director for my distinguished colleague from North Carolina, Chairman 
Helms, until Bud passed away in 1999.
  Bud and Ed genuinely cared for one another, and the maturity and 
mutual approval that they brought to the job filtered down through all 
the ranks of their respective staffs.
  It is not for nothing that some of the younger staff members refer to 
Ed Hall as ``Daddy Ed.'' He has led by example, bringing out the best 
in those for whom he is responsible and helping them feel that what 
they do is more than a mere job.
  But, though I can't imagine where he finds the time, Ed Hall's work 
doesn't end when he leaves his office.
  Ed's collaborative and caring approach to working with others is 
consistent with his religious convictions. He has been modest about 
them while in the office, but generous in expressing his faith through 
intense involvement in community affairs.
  Ed has long been active in the work of ``The Green Door,'' a 
nonprofit organization that helps the mentally ill achieve independence 
and self-sufficiency.
  He is a member of the board of directors for Episcopal Relief and 
Development, which provides assistance to those in need in the United 
States and abroad.
  And he has been an at-large trustee for the Virginia Theological 
Seminary, where he will soon be vice president for Institutional 
Advancement.
  We can only hope that Ed's new position will give him more time with 
his family. To his wife, Sherry, let me say thank you for all the times 
she kept his dinner warm on my account.
  Ed Hall has always seen to it that I receive the best possible 
preparation for a speech, and that the staff maintain a modest 
collection of quotations for such occasions, and that it is always at 
hand.
  So it will be no surprise if Ed recognizes something that the English 
essayist G.K. Chesteron once said:

       The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; 
     it has been found difficult and left untried.

  Well, I am here to tell you that while some may have found it 
difficult, and perhaps some have not tried hard enough, Ed Hall is 
living proof of a transcendent ideal that people of all convictions 
will recognize: he is an abundant spirit, a humble soul.
  He is a pillar of this institution. In a place where turnover is the 
order of the day, he has been a rarity, and he leaves a legacy of 
service for which the Senate will be forever grateful.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in saluting Edwin K. Hall.

                          ____________________