[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
[April 30, 1999]
[Pages 661-662]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 661]]


Remarks Announcing Measures To Address School Violence
April 30, 1999

    Ladies and gentlemen, in the last several days, like most Americans, 
I have spent an enormous amount of time following the events in 
Colorado, talking to family and friends and others. And I have some 
thoughts on that that I want to share with you today.
    Let me begin by saying we got some more good news today on the 
economic front, with the word that our economy expanded by 4.5 percent 
in the first quarter of this year. This news provides both more evidence 
that we should stick with our economic strategy and also is a worthwhile 
reminder that for all the challenges we face at home and abroad, we are 
indeed a fortunate people. We are strong enough to meet those 
challenges.
    Over the past 10 days our whole Nation has been united in grief with 
the people of Littleton, Colorado. We have also been profoundly moved by 
the courage, the common sense, and the fundamental goodness of Littleton 
students, teachers, parents, and public servants as they have spoken to 
us of the tragic events there. I have listened carefully to what they 
have said and to other young people and parents who have been on the 
townhall meetings and those whom I have met personally.
    We should recognize the simple truth that there is no simple, single 
answer. We should not be fighting about who takes the blame. Instead, we 
should all be looking for ways to take responsibility, and we should be 
doing that together.
    As we have united in grief, now we should unite in action. If we ask 
the right question, ``What can we do to give your children safe, whole 
childhoods?'' then there will be answers for parents and children, for 
teachers, communities, and for those who influence the lives and the 
environment in which our children live, including those of us in 
government, religious leaders, the entertainment and Internet 
communities, those who produce explosives and weapons, and those who use 
them lawfully.
    I am inviting representatives of all these groups to come to the 
White House on May 10th for a strategy session on children, violence, 
and responsibility. The First Lady, 
the Vice President, and Mrs. Gore, all of whom have worked for years to give our children 
the childhoods they deserve, will join me. I ask everyone to come to 
this meeting with ideas about how we can move forward together.
    As Hillary said yesterday, we need nothing less than a grassroots 
effort to protect our children and turn them away from violence. If 
citizens, parents and children alike, working together in their 
communities, can reduce teen pregnancy, reduce drunk driving, make 
seatbelt use nearly universal, then working together, we can protect our 
children.
    I want to briefly set out a framework for how this challenge can 
best be addressed. The push and pull of modern life adds incalculable 
new burdens to the work of parents. We must strive to find ways to bring 
parents and children together more, to get parents more involved with 
their children's lives, to get negative influences and guns out of the 
lives of our children, and to give families the tools to meet these 
challenges.
    First, we must help parents to pass on their values to their 
children in the face of a blizzard of popular communications that too 
often undermine those values. For young people who are particularly 
vulnerable and isolated, the violent video games they play can seem more 
real than conversations at home or lessons at school. We've been working 
to give parents stronger tools to protect their children, and we must do 
more.
    The V-chip will be included in half the new televisions sold this 
year. And together with the voluntary rating system adopted by 
broadcasters, it will give parents a new ability to screen the images 
their children see. Meanwhile, we've launched the most ambitious media 
plan ever to educate our children about the dangers of drugs.
    The Vice President and Internet service 
providers have given parents the ability to block access to violent or 
otherwise inappropriate websites. The Vice President will continue to 
work with industry to find ways to help parents guide their children 
through cyberspace, and we'll have more to say on that in the days 
ahead.
    We have worked to give our parents the tools to protect children 
from violence and to take

[[Page 662]]

guns out of the hands of children. The policy of zero tolerance for guns 
in schools led to 6,000 expulsions or suspensions in the last year 
alone.
    This week I proposed new measures to keep guns away from criminals 
and children; requiring background checks for buying guns at gun shows, 
as they are required at gun stores now, and background checks for the 
purchase of explosives; banning handgun ownership for people under 21; 
and restoring the Brady bill's cooling off period; and closing the 
loopholes in the assault weapons law.
    Even on these contentious issues, I believe we can reach across 
party lines and find common ground. I hope that sportsmen, gun 
manufacturers, and lawmakers of all parties will see these steps for 
what they are, commonsense measures to promote the common good. We all 
love our children. I respect the rights of hunters and sportsmen. Let's 
bury the hatchet and build a future for our children together.
    We must help parents fulfill their most important responsibilities. 
We all say we want parents to talk to their children more, but we all 
know that too many families have too little time even to have dinner 
together.
    Because parents too often have too little time, we've passed the 
Family and Medical Leave Act, and we're working to expand it. Because 
too many children leave school at 3, with nowhere to go and no adult to 
talk to, we've giving a quarter-million kids access to after-school and 
summer school programs, and we're working to triple that number. Because 
many parents need help in recognizing the signs of illness in their 
children, we're working to expand access to mental health care for 
children of all ages. Next month, Mrs. Gore will 
host the first White House Conference on Mental Health. We are also 
working to expand counseling, mentoring, and mental health services in 
our schools.
    Most important of all, and perhaps most difficult, parents must be 
more active participants in their children's lives. It is not for us to 
pass judgment on how those two young men in Colorado descended into darkness. We may never 
know what can be or even what could have been done. But this should be a 
wake-up call for all parents. We can never take our children for 
granted. We must never let the lines of communication, no matter how 
frayed, be broken altogether. Our children need us, even if they don't 
know it sometimes.
    This terrible tragedy must not be an occasion for silence. This 
weekend I ask all parents, if they have not already done so, to sit down 
and talk to their children about what happened at Littleton and what is 
happening in their schools and their lives.
    If we are not careful, when our children move through their teen 
years and begin to create their own separate lives, the bustle and 
burden of our daily lives can cause families to drift too far apart, to 
ignore the still-strong needs of children for genuine concern and 
guidance and honest conversation. This is sometimes the hardest thing of 
all, but it is vital, and lives depend on it.
    Finally, I ask students to do more to help each other. Next week, if 
you have not already done so, I ask every student in America to look for 
someone at school who is not in your group. You know, there have always 
been different crowds in schools, and there always will be. This, too, 
is an inevitable part of growing up and finding your own path through 
life. But it should not be an occasion for disrespect or hostility in 
our schools. After all, our children are all on the same journey, even 
if they're trying to chart different paths. And this can be profoundly 
important in building a safer future.
    The spirit of America can triumph in this troubling moment, and I am 
convinced it will. But we must build the energy and will and passion of 
our country and the fundamental goodness of our people into a grassroots 
movement to turn away from violence and to give all our children the 
safe and wholesome childhoods they richly deserve.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 1:54 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Columbine High School gunmen Eric 
Harris and Dylan Klebold.