[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.