[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 41 (Monday, October 12, 1998)]
[Pages 1997-1998]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7134--National Day of Concern About Young People and Gun 
Violence, 1998

October 7, 1998

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    During the past 18 months, Americans have been stunned by gun 
violence among our youth, including the tragic incidents of students 
shooting their classmates and teachers in Jonesboro, Arkansas; Pearl, 
Mississippi; Paducah, Kentucky; Edinboro, Pennsylvania; and Springfield, 
Oregon. In communities across the country, some young people are trying 
to resolve their conflicts and problems by taking a gun into their 
schools or onto the streets--guns that, although they are generally 
illegal for children to possess, are still too easy to get.
    While recent data indicate that the overwhelming majority of 
American schools are safe and that the rate of youth violence is 
beginning to decline, we must not relax our efforts to protect our 
children from such violence. Since the beginning of my Administration, 
we have worked hard to make our schools and communities safe places for 
children to learn and grow. We have put more community police in our 
neighborhoods, encouraged the use of curfews, school uniforms, and tough 
truancy policies, and proposed funding for after-school programs that 
provide children and young people with wholesome activities that keep 
them interested, engaged, and off the streets. We instituted a policy of 
zero tolerance for guns in schools that is now the law in all 50 States. 
We have issued a guidebook to help teachers, principals, and parents 
recognize the early warning signs of troubled students and intervene 
before despair or anger gives way to violence. Later this month, I will 
host the first-ever White House Conference on School Safety to focus on 
the causes and prevention of youth violence and to share effective 
strategies that we can put into practice nationwide. Through these and 
many other measures, we have strived to protect America's youth from 
being either the perpetrators or the victims of gun violence.
    While government can and must be an active partner in the effort to 
prevent youth violence, the real key to ending the killing is in the 
hands of young Americans themselves. Every young person must assume 
personal responsibility for avoiding violent confrontation, have the 
strength of character to walk away from a dispute before it turns 
deadly, and have the courage and common sense to refuse to participate 
in gang activities, to use drugs, or to carry or use a gun.
    As part of our nationwide observance of National Day of Concern 
About Young People and Gun Violence, I urge students across America to 
voluntarily sign a ``Student Pledge Against Gun Violence'' as an 
acknowledgment of these responsibilities. This pledge is a solemn 
promise by young people never to bring a gun to school, never to use a 
gun to settle a dispute, and to discourage their friends from using 
guns. By keeping this promise and giving one another the chance to grow 
to healthy, productive adulthood, young Americans will be taking an 
enormous step toward a stronger, safer future for themselves and our 
Nation.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 
8, 1998, as a National Day of Concern About Young People and Gun 
Violence. On this day, I call

[[Page 1998]]

upon all Americans to commit themselves anew to helping our young people 
avoid violence, to setting a good example, and to restoring our schools 
and neighborhoods as safe havens for learning and recreation.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this seventh day of 
October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-third.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:39 a.m., October 8, 
1998]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on October 
9.