    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [March 4, 2000]
    [Pages 381-382]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 381]]

    The President's Radio Address
    March 4, 2000

        Good morning. Today I want to speak with you about the senseless and
    heartbreaking gun violence that has shaken our Nation once again.
        Yesterday, the community of Mount Morris Township, Michigan, held
    memorial services for a beautiful little girl who was shot to death in
    her first-grade classroom on Tuesday. Kayla Rolland was only 6 years old. When she walked to school with
    her older brother and sister, her backpack looked almost as big as she
    was, but she loved to carry books and read. In the words of her
    grandmother, she was a bright light who lit up everything wherever she
    went.
        The community of Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, was also devastated this
    week. On Wednesday, a gunman unloaded his fury
    and a .22 caliber revolver in a busy commercial center. Five men were
    killed or grievously wounded, including a young college student and a
    man who served his community as a priest for 23 years.
        These tragedies were not isolated events. From Littleton to Fort
    Worth, Paducah to Pearl, gun violence has stolen the lives of young and
    old alike. It has desecrated churches and classrooms and day-care
    centers. It's kept parents up at night and made schoolchildren afraid to
    get on the bus in the morning.
        Every day, gunfire takes the lives of a dozen children in America.
    One University of New Hampshire survey showed that 60 percent of 15-
    year-olds said they could get hold of an unlocked gun. If you look just
    at the accidental gun deaths among children under 15, the rate in the
    United States is 9 times higher than in the other 25 industrial
    countries combined. This is intolerable, and we must act, because we can
    do something about it.
        Last year, with a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Gore, the Senate passed a juvenile crime bill that
    would go a long way toward strengthening our gun laws, requiring child
    safety locks, banning large ammunition clips, and closing the gun show
    background check loophole. The House passed a much weaker bill. And for
    the past 8 months, the leaders in Congress have simply failed to get
    together to complete a final bill for me to sign.
        I've called on congressional leaders to join me at the White House
    on Tuesday to break that logjam. In that meeting I'll insist that they
    get the job done. I want Congress to send me a final bill that closes
    the loophole that allows criminals to buy firearms at gun shows, bans
    the importation of high capacity ammunition clips, holds adults
    accountable when they allow young people to get their hands on deadly
    guns, and requires child safety locks for all new handguns, the kind of
    locks that would have prevented a first grader from taking Kayla
    Rolland's life.
        I'll also ask for support on three other vital measures: to develop
    smart guns that can only be fired by the adults who own them; to require
    that new handgun buyers first get a photo license showing they passed
    the Brady background check and a gun safety course; and to hire 1,000
    new gun prosecutors. Gun crime prosecutions already are up 16 percent
    since I took office, but we should do more.
        In a country of 270 million people, no law can stop every act of gun
    violence. But we can't just throw up our hands as if gun safety laws
    don't make a difference. We all have a responsibility to do our part,
    parents, community leaders, members of the gun industry, and yes,
    Members of Congress, too.
        When we passed the Brady bill, people argued it wouldn't make any
    difference because criminals don't buy guns at gun stores, they said.
    But it turned out a lot of them did. Brady background checks have now
    blocked gun purchases by 500,000 felons, fugitives, and stalkers. And
    gun crime is down by more than 35 percent since 1993.
        The only reason Congress hasn't already sent me a bill with
    comprehensive gun safety provisions is because of the pressure tactics
    and the threats of the NRA. In fact, the NRA now is launching a $20
    million campaign to target and to defeat Members of Congress who support
    responsible gun safety laws. But when first graders shoot first graders,
    it's time for Congress to be guided by their hearts and their heads, not
    by a fear or the pressure tactics of the NRA.
        It's time for all of us to make our voices heard in the Halls of
    Congress. The very least we can do to honor the memory of little Kayla

    [[Page 382]]

    Rolland and all the other tragic victims of
    gun violence is to pass sensible gun safety legislation right now.
        Thanks for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 1:05 p.m. on March 3 in the Los Gatos
    Room at the Silicon Valley Conference Center at Novell Headquarters, San
    Jose, CA, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on March 4. The transcript was
    made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on March 3 but was
    embargoed for release until the broadcast.