[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Page 21365]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      COACHES AGAINST GUN VIOLENCE

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I want to bring to the attention of my 
colleagues a new and innovative program created by the Alliance for 
Justice called Coaches Against Gun Violence.
  This program asks high school coaches to dedicate one game or event 
each year to gun violence prevention. The dedication can take a variety 
of forms, including inviting a local speaker to talk about gun 
violence, recognizing a victim or his or her family, having a school 
assembly devoted to the issue, or distributing ribbons in remembrance 
of lives lost to gun violence.
  Each year, millions of students take part in athletic activities. 
Coaches are leaders and mentors and have an enormous impact on the 
lives of many of their players. Harnessing this influence to educate 
students about the deadly effects of gun violence is an excellent idea.
  According to statistics compiled by the Alliance for Justice, there 
are an estimated 3,400 firearm-related injuries and 1,000 deaths each 
year in Michigan. In 2000 alone, 133 Michiganders under the age of 20 
were killed in incidents of gun violence, and 3,894 people under 20 
years old were killed in firearm-related incidents in the United 
States. These statistics are sobering. The Coaches Against Gun Violence 
Program is a creative approach to educating young people about the 
deadly effects of gun violence and I hope that coaches across the 
country will consider this program for their school communities.
  I urge my colleagues to encourage coaches in their home States to 
join the Coaches Against Gun Violence, and I commend the Alliance for 
Justice for its efforts.

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