[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.