    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 25 (Monday, June 28, 1999)]
    [Pages 1142-1143]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    The President's Radio Address

    June 19, 1999

        Good morning. Tomorrow will mark the 2-month anniversary of the
    terrible school shooting in Littleton, Colorado. This tragedy shocked
    our Nation and galvanized our determination to protect our children from
    violence.
        Together with the entertainment industry, we're finding new ways to
    reduce our children's exposure to graphic and gratuitous violence in
    movies, TV, and video games. Together with parents, teachers, and
    community leaders, we're talking about how we can increase our
    involvement in our children's lives and reach out to troubled young
    people

    [[Page 1143]]

    before they act in violence; how together we can form a grassroots
    campaign against violence directed at young children. Together as a
    nation, we're searching our hearts and minds for the best way to prevent
    anything like this from happening again.
        Now, one of the most urgent lessons of Littleton--and the plea of so
    many parents who've lost their own children to gun violence--is that to
    keep our children safe, we simply must do more to keep guns away from
    young people and out of the hands of criminals.
        Time and again, the gun lobby has used every weapon in its arsenal
    to defeat any effort to strengthen our gun laws, no matter how sensible.
    This week it, sadly, happened again.
        I sent to Congress a very sensible, moderate proposal to apply Brady
    background checks to gun shows. These are the same simple background
    checks that have now stopped 400,000 illegal gun sales without stopping
    a single legitimate purchaser from buying a gun over the last 5 years.
    Thanks to a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Gore, the Senate did the
    right thing and passed this measure. But the sound of the gavel hadn't
    died in the Senate Chamber before the gun lobby set its sights on the
    bill before the House of Representatives.
        This week the House of Representatives gutted our bill in the dark
    of night--literally, after midnight--because the gun lobby didn't want
    commonsense gun legislation to see the light of day.
        That is unacceptable. We can't allow the gun lobby to rewrite our
    laws and undermine our values. So today, again, I say to Congress:
    You've still got an opportunity, and you've still got an obligation to
    do the right thing and pass real legislation that will strengthen our
    gun laws, not weaken them. Pass a law that applies to all gun shows, not
    one that lets criminals turn flea markets and parking lots into gun
    bazaars. Pass a law that gives law enforcement enough time to run real
    background checks, not one that lets more criminals slip through the
    cracks. Pass a law that closes the deadly gun show loophole once and for
    all.
        Try this--before you send me that final bill, ask yourselves
    questions that are on every American's mind: Will this bill make it
    easier or harder for criminals to get guns? Will more lives be lost or
    more lives be saved? Is this about politics or putting our children's
    safety first?
        I say to the gun lobby again: I wish you would help us. Nobody is
    going to be hurt by this legislation. But we've overcome your scare
    tactics and strong-arm pressure before. We did it with the Brady law; we
    did it with the assault weapons ban. We've got the lowest crime rate in
    25 years; the American people are safer and honest hunters and sportsmen
    haven't been hurt a bit. The American people understand that commonsense
    gun laws don't infringe our rights; they protect our lives. It's that
    simple.
        This isn't a partisan issue anywhere else in America; it shouldn't
    be a partisan issue in Washington. Let us learn from the lessons of
    Littleton. Let us remember the children of Littleton and, indeed, honor
    the memory of all the children who lost their lives to gun violence in
    our country. Let's build a stronger and safer America for our kids in
    the 21st century.
        Thank for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 11:43 p.m. on June 18 in the Senator
    Room a the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Cologne, Germany, for broadcast at
    10:06 a.m. e.d.t. on June 19. The transcript was embargoed for release
    until the broadcast.