[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 42 (Monday, October 25, 1999)]
[Pages 2107-2108]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7243--National Day of Concern About Young People and Gun 
Violence, 1999

October 21, 1999

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Events of the past year have dramatically demonstrated the 
continuing need for a National Day of Concern About Young People and Gun 
Violence. In communities across our country, we saw young lives cut 
short by gunfire. We watched, horrified, as the same scene played out 
repeatedly in classrooms, school yards, and places of worship. Out of 
cities like Fort Worth, Texas; Conyers, Georgia; Granada Hills, 
California; and Littleton, Colorado, came the images that have become 
painfully familiar--racing ambulances, terrified children, grieving 
families. As a national community, we shared a sense of devastating loss 
too immediate to comprehend. Behind these headlines, every day in our 
Nation 12 young people die as a result of gun violence.
    In response to this disturbing cycle, my Administration has taken 
comprehensive action against youth violence. Last October, we held the 
first-ever White House Conference on School Safety, where I launched a 
new initiative to increase the number of safety officers in schools and 
unveiled a new plan to help schools respond to violence. After the 
tragedy in Littleton, we held a Summit on Youth Violence at which we 
launched a national campaign to end youth violence.
    Earlier this month, I established the White House Council on Youth 
Violence to ensure the effective coordination of the many agencies and 
programs of the Federal Government that address youth violence issues. 
In addition, we have selected 54 communities to receive more than $100 
million in Safe Schools/Healthy Students grants in an effort to find and 
fund the best ideas to reduce youth violence through community-based 
collaborative efforts. These funds will allow communities to implement 
important measures such as hiring more security personnel, installing 
security equipment, and improving student mental health services.
    I have also called upon the Congress to do its part by passing a 
juvenile crime bill that closes the dangerous gun show loophole, 
requires child safety locks for guns, and bans the importation of large-
capacity ammunition clips. I will continue to fight hard to win passage 
of these commonsense measures to keep guns out of the wrong hands.
    As we observe this year's National Day of Concern About Young People 
and Gun Violence, I encourage every student in America to sign a Student 
Pledge Against Gun Violence, a solemn oath never to bring a gun to 
school and never to use a gun to settle a dispute. More than one million 
students signed the pledge last year, and I hope that many more will 
participate this year. I also urge all Americans to make their voices 
heard and support efforts to reduce gun violence. We need every sector 
of our society--families, educators, communities, businesses, religious 
leaders, policymakers, and members of law enforcement--to join together 
in this crusade to end the cycle of violence and create a brighter, 
safer future for our children.
    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 
21, 1999, as a National Day of Concern About Young People and Gun 
Violence. On this day, I call 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 twenty-first 
day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-
nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two 
hundred and twenty-fourth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[[Page 2108]]

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., October 25, 
1999]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
October 26.