[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.