[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
[May 14, 2000]
[Pages 927-929]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks at a Rally for the Million Mom March
May 14, 2000
Well, thank you very much, and good morning. First of all, I think
we ought to give Christine O'Brien another
hand. [Applause] She gave such a good speech, I was wishing she were
running for Congress against some of those anti-gun-registration--
[laughter].
I want to thank Donna Dees-Thomases
and all the organizers and all the regions and all the States and all
the communities, now over 60 of them--I think about 70 now in the
country, where there will be marches today.
I want to thank my long-time friend Mike Barnes of Handgun Control. And I want to thank the many, many
Members of Congress who are here to march with you today, many of them
over here.
I would also like to welcome you on behalf of not only Hillary and
me but also Al and Tipper Gore, who have embraced this challenge with us
and believe so strongly in what you are trying to do. Our families care
about it.
I want to say that--I've put my notes away here--I've just one or
two things I want to say. First of all, you may have noticed that when I
was walking up here, this lovely Native American woman behind me started
crying. That's because her child was killed on Mother's Day. She is the
second mother I have met in the last 72 hours who lost a child on
Mother's Day. There are so many--there's another one.
One of the things your mothers teach you--I want to cut to the chase
here; let's get down to what this is all about. One of the things your
mothers teach you when you're growing up is that an ounce of prevention
is worth a pound of cure. Right? How many of us had our mothers tell us,
``Look both ways before you cross the street. Tie your shoes before you
start running. I don't want to get my shots, but an ounce of prevention
is worth a pound of cure''--in every single way.
Now, what the argument in Washington, DC, has been, the dominant
argument for the last 30 years, since we first began to discuss this, is
that an ounce of prevention is totally unacceptable, and we'll try to
throw 100 pounds of cure at it and hope it works out. That's the first
thing I want to say. This is about prevention.
The second thing I want to say is, when I became President there
were a lot of people, I think, who wondered whether the crime rate
[[Page 928]]
would ever go down. But for a combination of factors and a lot of
people's efforts around the country but certainly because of the Brady
bill, the assault weapons ban, and other related efforts, we now have
the lowest crime rate in a quarter century, and gun violence is down 35
percent. Now, that's the good news.
It's still the most violent civilized country in the world, with the
highest murder rate. But at least we know we can make a difference now,
and we know what works. So nobody has an excuse anymore. It's not like
we don't know that prevention works. We know it does work. One of the
things mothers learn to do real early is not let their kids make excuses
when they shouldn't. We don't have an excuse anymore.
Now, the third thing I want to--the point I want to make is, the
other side wins this argument on, basically, power, money, and fear, and
using labels. You know, there was a story this week saying, well, they
have reduced support for these measures because white males--not
mothers, I might add--are shying away from gun control. I want to tell
you something, folks, this is their labels against our facts.
Now, they talk about the second amendment. Well, the Supreme Court
says there is a constitutional right to travel. But we license car
owners, and we register cars, and we have speed limits, and we have
child safety restraint laws, and we have seat belt laws, and you don't
hear people talk about car control. When is the last time you heard
somebody stand up and give a speech about the imminent evils of car
control threatening our constitutional right to travel--car control?
Now, if somebody came to take all our cars and put them in somebody
else's garage and we couldn't get around, we could talk about car
control. Meanwhile, we are thankful for highway safety measures that
keep our children alive. We believe an ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure when it comes to exercising the constitutional right to
travel.
And when people talk about--as Christine said, and Hillary mentioned
this--they say guns don't kill people; people do. Well, even our
adversaries fly around on airplanes a lot. Suppose I gave you the
following speech tomorrow. Suppose I said, ``I'm really worried about
how crowded airports are, and almost everybody who goes into an airport
is honest, and after all, bombs don't kill people; people do. I'm going
to take the metal detectors out of the airport, and the next time a
plane blows up, we'll throw the book at them.'' [Laughter]
Folks, remember this. The facts are your friends. Don't let people
get everybody all upset and thrown into a turmoil here and start
screaming and yelling names and labels. We have not been responsible
parents for our children because we have, in this one area of our
national life, said we're not going to live on prevention; we're going
to live on punishment alone.
And when we did finally take some preventive action with the Brady
bill, the assault weapons ban, the cop-killer bullet bans--all of which
were opposed, I might add, by the same people who say these measures are
wrong--they made a difference to the lives of Americans. They helped to
make us safer.
Let me just say this. I respect so much those of you who are here
today who lost loved ones, who are here to redeem the lives of the loved
ones you lost by saving the lives of other people's children. I am
grateful to you. America is grateful to you. You could be sitting home
today burying your heartbreak and anger, and you undertook this journey.
I know how painful it must be for you.
But just remember, you're being good mothers today. You're reminding
all those people out there who have listened to these crazy excuses that
an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, that your little babies
didn't have advantage of it, and you're just trying to give it to the
other children in this country. This day is especially for you. Don't be
deterred by the intimidation. Don't be deterred by the screaming. Don't
be deterred by the political mountain you have to climb.
You just remember this: There are more people who think like you in
America. What we have to do is to get them to think. The facts are your
friends. You have to get them to think. And then you have to get them to
make it clear that as they think, they will vote. When that happens,
when everybody thinks about this and once they think about it they
decide to vote on what they think, you will have changed America. In the
great tradition that runs from Seneca Falls to Selma, you will have
redeemed the promise of freedom. You will have strengthened the bonds of
community. You will have proved that the American Constitution works
because decent people can stand against mountains of power and move
those mountains for
[[Page 929]]
the betterment of their children. That's what you're doing.
God bless you, and thank you.
Note: The President spoke at 9:15 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White
House. In his remarks, he referred to Christine O'Brien, New Jersey
organizer, who introduced the President, and Donna Dees-Thomases,
founder, Million Mom March; and Michael D. Barnes, president, Handgun
Control, Inc. The transcript released by the Office of the Press
Secretary also included the remarks of the First Lady.