[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 9 (Monday, March 7, 1994)]
[Pages 377-383]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in a Roundtable Discussion at Wilbur Wright College in Chicago

February 28, 1994

    The President. I'm glad to see all of you. I'm glad to also be back 
at Wright Community College where I first came in December of 1992, 
although, Congressmen and mayors, you will remember, it was in a 
different facility. This is much nicer and newer. It's good to be back 
here.
    We're here to talk about two things that relate to one another, 
crime and health care. It's appropriate that we're having this 
discussion today because today the Brady bill becomes law. It requires 
background checks on anyone who buys a handgun or gun and will help to 
keep guns out of the hands of criminals and people who are mentally 
unfit. It will prevent now, we know based on research, thousands of 
handgun murders all across our country. Here in Illinois, where you 
already have a tough law similar to the Brady law, it will prevent 
people who should not have guns from buying guns in other States, using 
them here to commit crimes.
    Before we begin, I'd like to talk with Jim Brady who made history 
with his heroic efforts, along with his wonderful wife, Sarah, to pass 
this bill. They worked for 7 long years to pass it. I want to say 
Congressman Rostenkowski has supported the bill all along the way, but 
there was surprisingly continuing opposition in Congress. It all melted 
away last year. I hope that our campaign and election had something to 
do with it. But for whatever reason, we had a good, good, strong 
bipartisan measure of support for the Brady bill. It's now the law as of 
today.
    And I just wanted--I've got Jim Brady on the phone, I think. And I 
wanted to congratulate him and thank him for his efforts. Jim, are you 
on the phone?
    James Brady. Good morning, Mr. President.
    The President. Is Sarah there?
    Sarah Brady. I'm right here, sir.
    The President. Well, it's nice to hear you both.
    Mrs. Brady. Well, it's good to hear from you.
    The President. As you know, I'm here in Chicago with a lot of people 
who understand the importance of what you've done. I'm here with doctors 
and other health care professionals who treat gunshot victims and people 
who are recovering from wounds. So I'm sure they're all very grateful to 
you, just as I am today.
    Mrs. Brady. Well, we thank you for your leadership and for their 
support. It took a real team effort to get this passed, and we thank you 
very much for it.
    The President. Well, I know that you believe this is just the 
beginning in our fight, and I know that you've got a lot of other 
objectives you want to try to achieve. I want you to know that we're 
going to be in there pulling for you and working with you.
    Mrs. Brady. Well, thank you. We appreciate it.
    Mr. Brady. We can't lose then.
    The President. You know, today, Secretary Bentsen is announcing that 
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is taking an assault weapon 
called the ``street sweeper'' off the free market.
    Mr. Brady. Yeah.

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    Mrs. Brady. That's a wonderful move, and we applaud that highly.
    The President. The weapon was originally developed for crowd control 
in South Africa. Several years ago, the U.S. Government banned it from 
being imported, but it's still made and sold here. So today, the Bureau 
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is reclassifying the ``street sweeper'' 
and another assault weapon, the USAS-12, as destructive devices, 
increasing the taxes on manufacturers and dealers and requiring the 
buyers to take extraordinary measures. Starting tomorrow, if you want to 
buy one, you have to appear in person, provide a photo ID with 
fingerprints, and have a local law enforcement officer verify that the 
buyer can own it in his home State. And that, I think, will make a big 
difference.
    So we're going to keep working on these things; we're going to try 
to pass this crime bill, including the assault weapons ban in it. I know 
you're going to help us. And I just want to say on behalf of Chairman 
Rostenkowski and Mayor Daley and myself and all these fine health 
professionals that are here, we appreciate you and we're grateful to 
you, and I hope you have a great celebration today.
    Mr. Brady. Thank you, Mr. President.
    Mrs. Brady. Thank you.
    The President. Thanks, Sarah. Bye, Jim.
    Mr. Brady. Bye now.
    The President. Take care.

[At this point, the telephone conversation ended.]

    Well, I'm glad we could take a little time to talk to them. You 
know, Jim Brady has paid a terrific price for the fact that we didn't 
have the Brady bill when he was wounded. I think it's remarkable that he 
and his wife are continuing to work on these matters and are continuing 
to get out there.
    Chairman Rostenkowski, I'm glad to see you here today. Glad to have 
a chance to talk about this crime issue, which you've been interested in 
for a long time and how it relates to the health care bill that we're 
working on in Congress now. Mayor Daley, I'm glad you're here. I know 
that you were the State's attorney before you were mayor, and I know 
you've worked very hard on the community policing. And every time I've 
ever talked with you, we've started our conversation with a discussion 
of crime. So I'm glad that you joined us here today.
    I'd like to talk a little bit about the crime bill that's before the 
Congress and then introduce the people here around the table and then 
invite the rest of you who are here, if we have time, to make some 
comments, because I think it's very important that we see that this 
crime problem is being manifested as a public health problem, too, and 
that many of you who deal with the cost and the human tragedy of this 
can speak very dramatically to why we need to change our laws and our 
policies.
    Our crime bill does a number of things. It contains a ``three 
strikes and you're out'' provision written properly to really cover 
people who commit three consecutive violent crimes. It gives us 100,000 
more police officers so that we can do more community policing. We know 
that that lowers the crime rate, if you have properly trained police 
officers on the streets, in the communities, who know the neighbors and 
know the kids. It bans assault weapons, and it provides funds for things 
like drug treatment and alternative treatment for first-time young 
offenders, like community boot camps.
    Today, I'm hoping that your presence here will help not only people 
in Chicago and Illinois but people all across America learn more about 
how the crisis in crime and violence is linked to the health care crisis 
in America.
    Last week, physicians from Chicago area trauma centers had a news 
conference with the Cook County medical examiner, Dr. Edmund Donahue. 
They reported that largely because of the proliferation of rapid-fire 
automatic and semi-automatic and assault weapons, gun violence has 
become one of the leading health problems in the Chicago area. More than 
2,500 people every year are treated for gunshot wounds in Chicago area 
emergency rooms, and caring for them in the emergency rooms costs $37 
million in this one community. In 1987, at Cook County Hospital, gunshot 
wounds accounted for 15 percent of the total funds used for the care of 
trauma patients. By 1992, this number had increased from 15 percent to 
35 percent.

[[Page 379]]

    At the Cook County Hospital trauma unit, from 1987 to 1992, the 
number of admissions for gunshot wounds increased from 449 to 1,220 and 
accounted for 70 percent of the overall increase in admissions. That is 
a stunning fact. And all across Illinois, 1992 was the first year in 
this State where more people were killed by guns than by auto accidents.
    According to an article in the Journal of the American Medical 
Association, gunshot wounds are expected to become the Nation's leading 
cause of traumatic death this year. From 1987 through 1992, 858,000 
armed attacks took place every year, and in 1991 and 1992, 16,000 people 
were murdered with firearms each year. This adds about $4 billion a year 
to hospital costs, and too often, of course, when one of us is struck 
with a bullet, the rest of us are stuck with the bill. About 80 percent 
of the patients who suffer firearm injuries aren't adequately insured or 
eligible for Government medical programs like Medicaid. So public 
hospitals cover the costs of the uninsured. Private hospitals charge 
higher rates for those who can pay, so the rest of us pay higher 
hospital bills, higher insurance premiums, and higher taxes.
    This morning I want to talk with you and let you basically talk to 
me and tell me whatever's on your mind about what we need to do and what 
you have experienced. The Mayor and Chairman Rostenkowski and I have 
decided we'd like to hear from you first, and then we may want to ask 
you some questions. And I know there are some other very distinguished 
people here, too, in the audience who may want to say some things. But 
let's start with the Chicago Police Superintendent, Matt Rodriguez, a 
strong advocate of community policing. And I want to thank you, sir, for 
working with our national service program to implement our summer-of-
safety where we're going to have several thousand young people working 
with police forces all across America to try to reduce the crime rate 
and relate better to the neighborhoods of this country this year. I 
thank you for that, and I want to give you the microphone for whatever 
you might like to say.

[At this point, Mr. Rodriguez discussed the Chicago Alternative Policing 
Strategy (CAPS) and explained that while the homicide rate is down in 
Chicago, the public's fear of crime has increased.]

    The President. I think one of the reasons that's happening is the 
numbers I just read off. While the overall crime rate is going down, 
even the murder rate is dropping in many of our cities, especially where 
community policing strategies have been implemented, the violence among 
young people seems to be on the rise. And among young people who are 
shot with these semi-automatic weapons, a gunshot wound is more likely 
to end in death than it was just 5 or 10 years ago because you're likely 
to have more bullets in your body. I mean, there's a lot of evidence now 
to that effect.
    So I think that the law enforcement folks in this country are not 
getting the credit they deserve in many cities, being able to bring the 
crime rate down through community strategies. But a lot of it is the 
sheer violence of certain particular things, and I think the widespread 
use of these assault weapons in gang settings.
    Mr. Rodriguez. The fastest growing segment of our criminal 
population are the young people. They're increasingly becoming the 
offenders. We find it again here in Chicago and across the country. That 
is the same indication I'm getting from other chiefs throughout the 
country.
    The President. Dr. Statter, Dr. Mindy Statter is the director of 
pediatric trauma at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Her unit 
is Level I, which means she gets the most intense and vulnerable trauma 
cases. Would you like to make a few comments?

[At this point, Dr. Statter discussed the increasing number of injuries 
being caused by adolescent violence and addressed the high cost of 
helping these victims, physically and psychologically.]

    The President. Do you have any--how long have you been doing this 
work?
    Dr. Statter. I've been at Wyler for 2 years.
    The President. Let me just say this. One of the most controversial 
parts of the crime bill, as you know, Mr. Chairman, in the House will be 
whether we can get the assault weapons ban that passed in the Senate, 
passed in the House. I just sort of wanted

[[Page 380]]

to ask your opinion as a medical professional. We have a lot of police 
officers tell us that this is very important, not only because it 
winds--without doing something on assault weapons you wind up often with 
the police in effect outgunned by people who have these weapons but that 
it actually has increased the level of mortality from gunshot wounds 
because of the transfer from handguns, regular handguns, to assault 
weapons. Have you seen that?

[Dr. Statter explained that children die more often than adults from 
gunshot wounds, regardless of the kind of gun being used.]

    The President. Barbara Schwaegerman is a trauma nurse at Cook County 
Hospital who works in an emergency room and cares for hundreds of 
victims of violence every year. Would you like to make a few comments 
about your experience and what you--[inaudible]

[Ms. Schwaegerman explained how the availability of semiautomatic 
weapons has created a 350 percent increase in deaths from gunshot 
wounds. She then stated that young people are using violence rather than 
communication to solve their problems and disagreements.]

    The President. Thank you.
    Perhaps the most important person sitting around this table today on 
this subject is Carol Ridley, who is an anticrime activist because her 
22-year-old son was killed by gunfire in 1992. She is an active member 
of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence and the Coalition to 
Stop Handgun Violence.
    Carol.

[Mrs. Ridley explained that her son was killed by his best friend during 
an argument. She then discussed the need for community programs and 
social activities that are structured and will keep children off the 
streets after school. She also addressed the continuous fear children 
feel because of violence in their neighborhoods.]

    The President. First of all, let me thank you for being here and 
thank you for having the courage to keep fighting this.
    One of the things that I have seen some success with around the 
country, that unfortunately is just being done kind of on a case-by-case 
basis with no consistency, is an effort in our schools to literally 
teach young people, who may not learn it at home or other community 
settings, how to resolve their differences, to really try to work 
through and force kids to come to grips with their aggressions, their 
angers, and how they deal with this.
    You know, I don't know how many encounters I've had in the last 3 
years with people talking about shootings occurring in schools that 
mostly are just impulse things. And it's something I think maybe we 
ought to give some thought to and make sure that in the crime bill that 
comes out that some of this money for alternatives includes the 
ability--these things aren't very expensive--to have these courses in 
the schools where these kids are actually taught how people, sensible 
people, resolve their differences, because I think it's a real problem.

[At this point, a participant agreed that conflict resolution needs to 
be addressed and discussed how important it is that people have a 
feeling of hope that something can be done to combat violence and 
crime.]

    The President. Congressman.

[Representative Rostenkowski discussed the importance of restricting 
weapons, reducing violence in the media, and involving the community in 
combating crime. He then stressed the President's role in anti-assault 
weapon legislation.]

    The President. Well, I don't think there's any question that, as you 
said, this has been one of those issues where the people were ahead of 
those elected officials or at least elected officials as a whole. 
They've been out there for a long time wanting us to do something.
    Mayor.

[Mayor Daley thanked the President for his leadership in efforts to 
control violence and crime. He then discussed the effect that violence 
has on the community as a whole.]

    The President. Thank you.
    Anybody else want to say something? Would you stand up and just 
identify yourself.

[[Page 381]]

[At this point, eight doctors participating in the program discussed 
their experiences in treating gunshot victims and suggested ways to 
prevent violence and crime in the community.]

    The President. Thank you. Is Dr. John May here?
    Dr. May. Yes.
    The President. You're the senior physician at the Cook County Jail, 
is that right?
    Dr. May. Correct.
    The President. I understand that you have done some violence 
prevention workshops with your people in the prison, in the jail. Would 
you talk a little about that?

[Dr. May discussed the violence prevention workshops in the prison and 
stressed the need for violence prevention methods such as conflict 
resolution and stricter gun laws.]

    The President. Is Reverend Roosevelt McGee here? Reverend McGee is 
the executive director of the Chicago chapter of the Southern Christian 
Leadership Conference. What are your observations about what you've 
heard today, and what can we do to prevent some of these things from 
happening in the first place? What can I do? What can the rest of us do?

[Reverend McGee explained community efforts to provide alternatives for 
people who are turning to a life of crime and violence.]

    The President. Thank you.

[At this point, Dr. Bruce Gewertz, chairman of surgery at the University 
of Chicago, thanked the President for his leadership in fighting 
violence and crime.]

    The President. Thank you. I guess this would be an appropriate time 
to make an observation that all the medical professionals here will 
immediately identify with. You know, one of the big debates we're having 
in Washington over the health care plan now is that Americans spend 
about 14.5 percent of our total income on health care. The next most 
health-care-expensive country is Canada where they spend 10 percent; 
Germany and Japan are slightly under 9 percent of their income, even 
though their health outcomes, their indicators, are as good or better 
than ours in almost every major area. And they cover everybody, unlike 
the United States, which doesn't cover everybody.
    And in the health care debate, we're examining, you know, how much 
of that is due to the way we finance health care, how much of that is 
due to the enormous administrative burden on hospitals and doctors' 
clinics and in insurance offices. But if we're going to be perfectly 
candid, we have to admit that some of the difference is what you all 
deal with every day. As long as we have more people who are cut up and 
shot and victims of violence, we're going to have a more expensive 
health care system than our competitors. And it has enormous economic 
consequences for the country. The human consequences are by far the most 
important; I don't want to minimize them. But I think it's important 
that we acknowledge here that no matter how successful Chairman 
Rostenkowski and I might be working on this health care thing when we go 
back, and even if we can get everybody in the world to agree on it, 
which seems somewhat less than likely, we will still have a system that 
costs more than all our major competitors as long as we are a more 
violent society than all our major competitors. Because no matter how 
you cut it, you will have to be there doing what you do, and that's 
expensive.
    I want to call on just a couple of other people, first, one of your 
officers. Is Officer Charles Ramsey here?
    Officer Charles Ramsey. Here, sir.
    The President. Officer Ramsey heads up--he's the deputy chief of 
police, and he's the head of the community policing program here. Could 
you say a little bit about what you think is the potential of the 
community policing program to actually reduce the crime rate and help 
maybe to begin to change patterns of behavior that we're talking about 
today?

[Officer Ramsey stated that law enforcement officials and health care 
professionals must work together to find methods to prevent violence. He 
then discussed violence on television and its effect on children.]

    The President. Is Gina Benavides here? Gina was in her car with a 
girlfriend when she was the victim of random gunfire. And since that 
time, she's spoken out publicly

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against gun violence, and I thought I would give her a chance to say 
something here today.

[Ms. Benavides stated that many teachers and police officers do not live 
in the communities where they work, so their influence is limited.]

    The President. It's a very interesting thing--several weeks ago in 
Washington, DC, there was a national meeting on violence in which Jesse 
Jackson and a number of other people were involved. And one of the 
principal ideas that came out of that, interestingly enough, was that 
local and State governments should consider giving special tax 
incentives or low-cost mortgages or something else to encourage police 
officers and teachers to actually live in the communities in which they 
work. That's very perceptive that you would say that.
    Steven Estrada, are you here? Steven was a former mid-level 
management professional who was shot in the back and robbed for $9. And 
I appreciate your coming here, and I was wondering if you'd like to say 
anything?
    Mr. Estrada. It's kind of hard to talk about sometimes, so I don't 
know what to say. [Inaudible]--when you're in a situation like that, you 
don't know what the answer is. All I know is that I've got to move on. I 
can't sit here and feel sorry for myself. I've got to move on and pick 
up where I left off and go on. And so, I don't know, Mr. President, I'm 
not an expert in handguns like all these other people here today--
[inaudible]. All I know is one thing, that I do have a family. I have 
two little girls that I almost lost them, and I'm just grateful to be 
alive and to be here. So, I'm just going to move on.
    The President. Thank you.
    Yes sir, Chief.

[Officer Rodriguez explained that Mr. Estrada, like many victims of 
violence, is having a difficult time recovering both mentally and 
physically from his experience.]

    The President. Anything else? Anyone else want to be heard? Young 
man. Tell us your name.

[William Waller, a gunshot victim, called for a ban on all weapons and 
stiffer penalties for criminals.]

    The President. Yes, sir. Thank you, young man.

[Commander Ronnie Watson discussed the effect of violent television 
programs and video games on society. He then urged families and 
community members to become involved in programs that help control 
violence and crime.]

    The President. Thank you.
    Mayor.

[Mayor Daley stated that many foreign companies are selling drugs and 
weapons to the United States because they are unable to sell them in 
their own countries.]

    The President. Thank you. Take one more, and then I think we better 
wrap up. Then, Congressman, I would like to hear from you at the end.

[Dr. Leslie Zun, chairman of emergency medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, 
explained that the emergency room takes care of many victims of violence 
at tremendous cost. She then thanked the President for his initiative on 
health care reform.]

    The President. We also need to remember that every one of these 
hospitals with a big trauma bill also treats lots of other patients for 
lots of other things, and it imposes an enormous financial burden on the 
hospitals, which is one reason this health care reform thing is so 
important to big city hospitals with large trauma units is that it will 
help to even out the flow of payments so you will be able to continue to 
treat these other folks and not risk bankruptcy, which I think is very 
important. A lot of people have overlooked that connection, that all 
these other people that are going to these hospitals.
    Mr. Chairman, you want to wrap up?

[Representative Rostenkowski thanked the President for his involvement 
in this issue and stated that many trauma centers have closed in Chicago 
due to the high cost of health care. He agreed with the idea that many 
police officers and teachers should live in the communities where they 
work. He then

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thanked the President for becoming involved in tough issues.]

    The President. It is a tough one, but I want to thank you, Carol, 
and thank you, Barbara, and thank you, Mindy Statter, and thank you, 
Chief Rodriguez, and thank all of you for the work you do every day. And 
I particularly want to thank those of you who have been victimized in 
some way or another for having the courage to come up here and do this 
and to continue your interest in this.
    I think the American people are ready to move on this. I believe 
they are. And I think maybe the rest--those of us who can help are 
getting the message. And your presence here today will certainly help.
    Thank you very much. We're adjourned.

Note: The President spoke at 9:45 a.m. at Wilbur Wright College. In his 
remarks, he referred to civil rights leader Jesse L. Jackson.