    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
    [May 10, 1997]
    [Pages 585-586]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    May 10, 1997

        Good morning. This morning I want to talk about the responsibility
    we share to protect our children from the scourge of violent crime and
    especially from crime committed by other young people. We've all worked
    hard over the last 4\1/2\ years to prepare America for the 21st century,
    with opportunity for all, responsibility from all our citizens, and a
    community that includes all Americans. Because of these efforts,
    America's children face a brighter future. Economic growth is the
    highest it's been in a decade. Unemployment is at its lowest level in 24
    years, with over 12 million new jobs. Last Friday we reached an historic
    agreement to finish the job of balancing the budget, to keep our economy
    thriving, with the biggest investment in education in 30 years, tax cuts
    to help pay for a college education for all Americans, and health care
    coverage for 5 million children who have no insurance now.
        But with all these advances, our children cannot live out their
    dreams if they are living in fear of gangs and guns. That's why I have
    worked so hard to reverse the tide of crime. We passed a tough crime
    bill that's putting 100,000 new community police on our street. We
    passed the Brady bill, which has stopped over 186,000 felons, fugitives,
    and stalkers from buying handguns. We banned deadly assault weapons. We
    initiated the biggest antidrug effort ever to make our children's
    schools and streets safe, drug-free, and gun-free.
        This strategy is working. Serious crime has dropped 5 years in a
    row. But sadly, crime among young people has been on the rise. According
    to a report by the Justice Department's juvenile division, unless we act
    now, the number of juveniles arrested for violent crimes will more than
    double by the year 2010. That means we must launch a full-scale assault
    on juvenile crime based on what we know works.
        This February I sent legislation to Congress that would declare war
    on gangs, with new prosecutors and tougher penalties. It would also
    extend the Brady bill so that someone who commits a violent crime as a
    juvenile is barred from buying a gun as an adult. It would require that
    child safety locks be sold with guns to keep children from hurting
    themselves or each other. It would help keep schools open after hours,
    on weekends, and in the summer to keep children off the streets and out
    of trouble.
        This is a tough and balanced approach based on what is actually
    working at the local level. In Boston, where many of these efforts are
    already in place, youth murders have dropped 80 percent in 5 years, and
    not one child has been killed with a gun in over a year and a half.
        Unfortunately, this Thursday the House of Representatives passed the
    juvenile justice bill that falls far short of that promise. The House
    bill is weak on guns, and it walks away from the crime prevention
    initiatives that can save a teenager from a life of crime. And as
    drafted, it would actually only reach a few States with the good it does
    do.
        The House bill does not ensure the new antigang prosecutors we
    desperately need to pursue and punish violent juveniles. It does not
    support efforts such as Boston's Operation Night Life, where police and
    probation officers make nightly visits to the homes of young
    probationers to make sure they live up to the strict rules of their
    probation. The bill does not fund anticrime initiatives to keep our
    schools open later and on weekends so young people can stay under the
    watchful eye of parents, educators, and community leaders instead of on
    street corners where the most common influences are bad ones. We know
    juvenile crime peaks right after the schoolday ends. We've got to engage
    our children during those hours, to steer them away from gangs.
        You know, just a couple of weeks ago, I sponsored the Service Summit
    in Philadelphia, along with all our former Presidents and General Colin
    Powell. The summit was dedicated to giving every young American a chance
    to make

    [[Page 586]]

    the most of his or her life, enlisting millions and millions of
    volunteers to guarantee children a healthy start, access to basic
    skills, a mentor, a safe environment, and the chance to serve
    themselves. Republicans and Democrats alike applauded this summit. It
    highlighted successful efforts to guarantee children a safe environment.
        Now, this bill the House passed ignores the real spirit of the
    summit, its bipartisanship and its focus on what works. The plain
    evidence of what is working right now to save our children is nowhere
    apparent in this bill. It's the same old tough rhetoric without any
    prevention, without any change in the environment to make it harder for
    gangs to function, or without real toughness in every State in America.
    Perhaps most troubling, the House bill rejects my call to cut off young
    people's access to guns, now the third leading cause of death for young
    people between the ages of 13 and 24. We must begin with the simple
    precaution of child safety locks. It's heartbreaking when a gun owned by
    a law-abiding parent is used by a child to hurt themselves or others.
    According to a National Institute of Justice survey, 185 children died
    in 1994 because of accidental shootings. Now, if we can have safety
    precautions to prevent children from opening bottles of aspirin, surely
    we can have the same safety precautions to prevent children from using
    guns.
        Extending the Brady bill is critical as well. If you commit a
    violent crime as a 17-year-old, you should not be able to buy a gun on
    your 21st birthday. I challenge Congress to pass a real juvenile justice
    bill, one that's tough on gangs and tough on guns and is serious about
    the kind of prevention efforts we know will work.
        To me, a juvenile justice bill that doesn't limit children's access
    to guns is a bill that walks away from the problem. Not a single hunter
    would lose a gun because of child safety locks. Not a single law-abiding
    citizen would be denied a gun if we extend the Brady bill to those with
    violent juvenile records. But countless young lives would be saved if
    stolen guns became useless guns and if lawless juveniles became gunless
    adults.
        If Congress really wants to get tough on juvenile crime, then it's
    time to get tough on guns and take them out of the hands of violent
    juveniles. We've come a long way in the last 4\1/2\ years. But to really
    make sure we prepare our children for the 21st century, we have got to
    give them a safe and orderly environment where they can make the most of
    their future and of the world they will soon inherit.
        Thanks for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 2:50 p.m. on May 9 aboard Air Force
    One for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on May 10.