    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [July 19, 1997]
    [Pages 983-985]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    July 19, 1997

        Good morning. Today I want to talk about the important progress
    we're making in our efforts to get guns out of the hands of violent
    juveniles.
        Our administration has put in place a tough, smart anticrime
    strategy, relying on more community police, stricter punishment, and
    better afterschool prevention efforts. This strategy is

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    working. For 5 years in a row, we've seen serious crime drop nationwide.
    Last year, we saw the largest one-year decline in violent crime and
    murder in 35 years. Our most recent figures even show a slight decline
    in juvenile crime. But we all know that juvenile crime and violence are
    still significant problems in our country. We know that children are
    still killing children for shoes, for jackets, for turf. We know that
    too many of our young people are drawn to guns and violence as a way of
    life.
        One fact stands out and demands our attention. Over the past
    decades, the number of gun murders by juveniles has skyrocketed by 300
    percent. This is simply unacceptable. We know we must break this deadly
    trend. Some of our cities are beginning to do it. In Boston, thanks to a
    comprehensive effort by prosecutors, police, probation officers,
    community leaders, and ordinary citizens, not a single juvenile murder
    has been committed with a gun in 2 full years. Boston police
    commissioner Paul Evans should be commended for his leadership role in
    this outstanding effort, and I'm very glad that he's joined me here
    today.
        A year ago, I looked at Boston's approach, and it was clear that
    tracing guns seized from young criminals was a key to the city's
    success. So I directed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to
    launch a national initiative in 17 cities to replicate Boston's effort
    and trace all the guns used in crimes. A year later, the first results
    are in. Police departments in these 17 cities submitted for tracing
    nearly twice as many guns used in crimes as they did the year before. We
    found that almost half of all guns used in crimes came from young
    people. More importantly, for the first time, we know where the
    juveniles are getting these guns, how they are getting them, and what
    kinds of guns they are using.
        One crucial fact is now clear, that guns are finding their way
    quickly from legitimate retail stores to black markets through a network
    of gun traffickers and corrupt gun dealers. Make no mistake: Gun
    traffickers are funneling guns to lawless youth. We know how they
    operate, and we intend to shut them down.
        In Milwaukee, thanks to our youth gun-tracing initiative, police
    officers were able to find a pattern. Several guns used in drive-by
    shootings and armed robberies had originally been purchased by one man,
    a security guard named Larry Shikes. Police investigators quickly
    discovered that Shikes was selling brand new semiautomatic weapons from
    the trunk of his car. Police swept in and arrested him in April. He pled
    guilty to trafficking charges, and he will be sentenced next month.
        Our youth gun-tracing initiative has been so effective that I'm
    pleased to announce we will expand our efforts to 10 more cities,
    including Philadelphia and Los Angeles. I want to thank the ATF and all
    the people who have worked on this initiative, especially Under
    Secretary of Treasury Ray Kelly, who is also with me today. We will work
    with Congress to hire more ATF agents to work with local police officers
    and prosecutors to pursue traffickers based on the leads we're
    generating now every day.
        We also have a chance to build on our progress by passing a smart,
    tough juvenile justice bill that cracks down on guns and gangs. We need
    to provide for more prosecutors, tougher penalties, and better
    afterschool gang prevention programs. We should require that every new
    gun sold in America has a child safety lock. And we should prohibit
    violent teenagers from buying guns once they become adults.
        Last week, I was disappointed that a Senate committee considering a
    juvenile crime bill voted against requiring Federal firearms dealers to
    provide child safety locks. I urge the full Senate to reconsider this
    action.
        A juvenile crime bill must be comprehensive. Of course, it must get
    tough on violent juvenile offenders, but it also must cut off their
    access to guns. That's one big reason why Boston's program works. To
    keep guns away from crime-committing youth, we must also continue to
    perform background checks on gun-buying adults. The Brady law has
    already stopped more than 250,000 fugitives, felons, and stalkers from
    buying handguns. The Supreme Court recently struck down a portion of the
    Brady law that requires local officials to perform these checks. But in
    a meeting this week with law enforcement officials from around the
    country, Attorney General Reno and Treasury Secretary Rubin confirmed
    that the overwhelming majority of police departments are continuing to
    do the responsible thing, to perform these background checks voluntarily
    because they work.
        Now that we're making every effort to keep criminals from getting
    guns through the front door of a gun shop, we're turning our attention
    to locking the back door, too. We have started to crack the code of the
    black market in illegal

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    weapons. We are tracing the guns, targeting the traffickers, taking more
    of our children out of harm's way. Cities like Boston have shown us
    great results. And if we'll all work together, there is no reason why
    every community in America can't expect and achieve the same success.
        Thanks for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 7:48 p.m. on July 18 in the Roosevelt
    Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on July 19.