    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
    [December 11, 1993]
    [Pages 2154-2155]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 2154]]

    The President's Radio Address
    December 11, 1993

        Good morning. This morning I want to talk to you about crime and
    violence and what we can all do about it.
        On Tuesday evening in Garden City, New York, a gunman shot and
    killed 5 rush-hour commuters on the Long Island Rail Road and wounded 20
    others. On Thursday night in California, there was a memorial service
    for 12-year-old Polly Klaas. She'd been kidnaped from her bedroom 2
    months ago. Her little body was found last Saturday.
        These tragedies are part of the epidemic of violence that has left
    Americans insecure on our streets, in our schools, even in our homes.
    The crime rate has hit every American community from our oldest cities
    to our smallest towns to our newest suburbs. As a suburban California
    woman, the mother of a 10-year-old girl, said a few days ago, ``There's
    no safe place to go. There's no place that's safe.''
        If our Nation is to find any meaning in these tragedies, we must
    join together to end this epidemic of violent crime and restore the
    fabric of civilized life in every community. There is now some hope
    amidst the horror because decent people are fighting back against crime.
        Just before Thanksgiving I signed the Brady bill into law. It
    requires a 5-day waiting period before anyone can purchase a handgun so
    there can be a check of someone's age, mental health, and criminal
    record. The Brady bill became law because you, the American people, were
    stronger than the gun lobby.
        On Thursday, together with Attorney General Janet Reno, FBI Director
    Louis Freeh, and Drug Policy Coordinator Lee Brown, I met with mayors
    and police chiefs from 35 cities. They told me they need more police on
    the streets, a ban on assault weapons, and action to keep drugs and guns
    away from vulnerable young people. And I intend to give the folks on the
    front lines the resources and the support they need to win the fight
    against crime.
        I call upon Congress when they return in January to pass promptly a
    strong crime bill that will put 100,000 more police officers on the
    street, prohibit assault weapons, and provide fundings for more boot
    camps for first-time offenders.
        I want to put 100,000 new police officers on the streets of our
    communities so they can walk their beats and work with neighborhood
    people. Putting more police on the streets will do more to reduce crime
    than anything else we can do.
        The ban on assault weapons and the restrictions on semiautomatics
    are important because they'll stop criminal gangs from being better
    armed than the police. And these restrictions would have prevented the
    gunman on the Long Island Rail Road from having two 15-round clips of
    ammunition that enabled him to maim and kill so many people with such
    deadly speed. Assault weapons and 15-round clips have nothing to do with
    hunting or sports. They just let criminals shoot people more quickly. A
    recent study in one of our major cities showed that the increasing death
    rate among young people hit with gunshots was due almost entirely to the
    fact that the weapons themselves were more likely to be semiautomatic
    and therefore more deadly.
        Boot camps have been endorsed by every major law enforcement
    organization in America. They give first offenders a second chance to
    learn some discipline. And they open more space in the prisons for
    hardened, violent criminals.
        Now that Congress is home for the holidays, tell your Senators and
    Representatives to pass a strong crime bill so your family can be safer.
    You know, the new year begins just 3 weeks from today. I'd like to
    suggest a New Year's resolution for every Senator and every
    Representative: Let's pass the crime bill as soon as you return.
        There's so much more we're doing and more we need to do. Under the
    leadership of Dr. Lee Brown, our Drug Policy Director and the father of
    community policing, we're strengthening enforcement and prevention.
    We're increasing the focus on hardcore users who fuel the crime and
    violence and the tragic waste of human lives.
        Next summer in our national service program, AmeriCorps, thousands
    of young people will help with community policing, escort older people,
    and board up abandoned buildings so they

    [[Page 2155]]

    can't be turned into crack houses. The young people in the Summer of
    Safety will be an inspiring example for Americans of all ages to work
    together to make our streets safer by acting on our finest values.
        Let's face it, drugs and guns and violence fill a vacuum where the
    values of civilized life used to be. Work and family and community are
    the principles, the institutions, upon which the great majority of
    Americans are building their lives. We need to restore them and the
    sense of hope and discipline that will give every man and woman, every
    boy and girl the opportunity to become the people God intended them to
    be.
        In recent weeks, I've spoken to leaders from the religious community
    and the entertainment community about the obligation we all share to
    fight violence with values. Last week I was proud to hear that the Inner
    City Broadcasting Corporation of New York, which owns five radio
    stations throughout the country, will no longer play songs that advocate
    violence or show contempt for women. And I understand that two stations
    in Los Angeles, KACE, owned by former Green Bay Packer Willie Davis, and
    KJLH, owned by Stevie Wonder, have also adopted this policy. Whether
    we're ministers or moviemakers, business people or broadcasters,
    teachers or parents, we can all set our sons and daughters on a better
    path in life so they can learn and love and lead decent and productive
    lives.
        In this holiday season, as we rejoice in the love of our families
    and hold our children a little closer, we should also strengthen the
    bonds of community. We can make our neighborhoods and our nations places
    of shared responsibility, not random violence. The tragedies of this
    week remind us that there is no place to hide. The lessons of our
    history remind us that Americans can accomplish anything when we work
    together for a common purpose.
        As we begin this season of celebration and rededication, let's
    remember the words of Theodore Roosevelt, a great President who was once
    a police commissioner too: ``This country will not be a good place for
    any of us to live in, unless we make it a good place for all of us to
    live in.''
        Thanks for listening, and God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:06 a.m. from the Oval Office at the
    White House.