    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
    [October 9, 1993]
    [Pages 1721-1722]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1721]]

    The President's Radio Address
    October 9, 1993

        Good morning. For many Americans today is the beginning of a long
    weekend, a time to bring out the wool sweaters and coats, our security
    against the change of seasons. In this remarkable period of our history,
    our Nation is facing changes longer lasting than fall and winter. But
    these changes require a certain security, too.
        Throughout the campaign for this office and since I became your
    President, I've been asking that we have the courage to change, to
    compete in the world economy, and to bring prosperity back home. But we
    can't embrace change fully unless our own people feel a high level of
    personal and family security, a security about our place in the world.
    I'm happy to report that we're making real progress on that, too. Our
    first job was to address economic security with a budget that seriously
    cuts the Federal deficit, that has led to record lows in long-term
    interest rates and that has led to good news in increasing bank lending
    and housing starts and business investments.
        Since I became President, our economy has created more than a
    million private sector jobs, more jobs in 8 months than all those
    created in the previous 4 years. But it's just a beginning. Many of our
    people are still struggling, and we won't quit fighting for them. As
    long as the economy isn't working for working people, we'll be working
    to fix it.
        We took on the issue of medical security because true security for
    our families and for the economy is clearly incomplete without it. Our
    administration's plan for health care reform will reduce waste and cost,
    and most importantly, will give our citizens health care that's always
    there, that can't be taken away.
        And the blanket of security for Americans has another side to it:
    personal security. Our people have the right to feel safe where they
    live, work, play, and go to school. But too many of our people are
    denied that right. I've talked with parents who were afraid to send
    their children to schools where other kids carry guns. I've talked with
    children who were so afraid of becoming caught up with gangs, they
    didn't ever want to leave their homes. I've talked with police officers
    who felt anger and frustration at trying, sometimes against overwhelming
    odds, to stem an epidemic of violence, especially from children, better
    armed than police, who shoot other children. And most important, I've
    talked with the victims.
        Yesterday, I visited a trauma center in New Jersey and saw what
    people with guns can do to other people. I met a woman who couldn't
    speak anymore because her husband shot her in the throat. I met a man
    who took a bullet in his chest during a robbery attempt. I met a child
    whose mother was killed by an assault rifle. It was heartbreaking, and
    it was an outrage.
        These kind of attacks happen too often. They shatter lives. They
    destroy families. And more and more, they kill children. Violent crime
    crowds our emergency rooms and drains our medical resources. And it is
    siphoning away our humanity. Gunshot wounds are now the major cause of
    death among teenage boys.
        My visits with these victims yesterday made me more determined than
    ever to win passage of our crime bill. This bill will help to restore a
    system where those who commit crimes are caught, those who are found
    guilty are convicted, those who are convicted are punished, sometimes by
    imposition of the death penalty for especially serious crimes. I support
    that.
        Two months ago I asked Congress to pass a tough crime bill. This
    month, your lawmakers will consider it. And they should pass it this
    year. But what really makes this crime bill effective and different is
    this: more police, fewer guns. Our bill would help to prevent crime by
    putting 50,000 more police officers on the street in America and by
    expanding community policing.
        Here in Washington recently, a beautiful 4-year-old girl was caught
    in the line of fire, and she died from a bullet wound. Her name was
    Launice Smith. All she was doing was watching other children at play.
    How did that become the wrong place at the wrong time? The fact is, with
    so many handguns and assault weapons flooding our streets, a lot of
    places can be the wrong place at the wrong time. That's why we have to
    pass the Brady bill. It requires a 5-day wait before a gun can be
    purchased, time

    [[Page 1722]]

    enough for a real background check to stop guns from getting into the
    hands of convicted criminals. And we can't go on being the only country
    on Earth that lets teenagers roam the streets with assault weapons
    better armed than even the police.
        Our crime bill also gives a young person who took a wrong turn a
    chance to reclaim his life by learning discipline in a boot camp. Every
    major law enforcement group in our country supports these measures: more
    police, boot camps, and alternative punishment for young people, the
    Brady bill, and a ban on assault weapons.
        The men and women on the front lines know our country needs this
    kind of action on school grounds, on streets, in parking lots and homes
    in our biggest cities and smallest towns. The silliest of arguments,
    arguments that might have ended in a fist fight in bygone days, now
    they're too easily ended with the sound of a gun. And often, the sound
    of a gun leads to death.
        A gunshot wound is three times more likely to lead to death today,
    in part because there are so many assault weapons, and the average
    victim of a gunshot wound now has over two bullets in him or her. It's
    getting hard to find a family that hasn't been touched by this epidemic
    of violence. Often, it means another empty chair in a classroom, an
    empty place at a dinner table, an empty space in the hearts of those who
    lost the loved ones.
        Tell your Representatives on Capitol Hill you want the crime bill,
    and you want it now because it's important; it's long overdue. I
    guarantee you this: The minute I get it, I'll sign it. For we can never
    enjoy full economic security in our professional lives without real
    personal security in our homes, on our streets, and in our
    neighborhoods. I pledge to you today that we'll keep working to restore
    both.
        Thanks for listening.

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