[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 2320]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     PROSECUTION IS NOT PREVENTION

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, it is sometimes argued that ``prosecution 
is prevention'' when it comes to gun violence. While I agree that our 
gun laws should be strictly enforced, prosecuting criminals is only 
part of the solution to our Nation's problems with guns. True 
prevention involves reducing the likelihood of death or injury before 
an incident occurs. In addition, it is important to recognize that 
prosecution has little or nothing to do with the thousands of 
accidental shootings and gun suicides that occur each year. 
Unfortunately, we have still not done enough to prevent dangerous guns 
from falling into the hands of potential criminals, children, and 
others who may intentionally or unintentionally use them to harm 
themselves or others.
  Physicians for Social Responsibility, or PSR, is a leading public 
policy organization made up of more than 24,000 medical and public 
health professionals which has been active in the fight to solve the 
problem of gun violence in our Nation. PSR is one of many groups who 
view gun violence as a ``preventable public health epidemic.'' As it 
states on its Web site:

       Public health practice focuses resources on prevention, 
     rather than a traditional criminal justice, ``after the 
     fact'' method of reacting to violence through arrest, 
     conviction and incarceration of violent offenders. Just as 
     public health policy recognizes that immunizing a patient 
     against the measles is far superior to treating a patient 
     already infected, the same logic can be applied to guns.

  If we are serious about preventing gun violence, we must first reduce 
the ability of criminals to acquire dangerous firearms. One way of 
doing this is by requiring background checks on all firearms sold in 
the United States, instead of only those that are sold by licensed 
dealers as is prescribed under current Federal law. According to the 
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, ``two out of every five guns acquired 
in the United States, including guns bought at gun shows, through 
classified ads, and between individuals, change hands without a 
background check.'' The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence also estimates 
that ``extending criminal background checks to all gun transactions in 
the United States could prevent nearly 120,000 additional illegal gun 
sales every year.''
  Prevention of unintentional shooting and suicide by children requires 
that proactive steps be taken to reduce access to dangerous firearms. A 
study published last year in the Journal of the American Medical 
Association found that the risk of unintentional shooting or suicide by 
minors using a gun can be reduced by 61 percent when ammunition in the 
home is locked up. Simply storing ammunition separately from the gun 
reduces such occurrences by more than 50 percent.
  Prosecution of gun violence perpetrators alone is not an effective 
means of preventing injury or death caused by guns, although opponents 
of commonsense gun safety legislation argue that it is. Unfortunately, 
our gun safety laws do not include many proactive measures that would 
reduce the likelihood that a gun is used to kill or injure. I hope my 
colleagues will join me in working to address this problem.

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