[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 10 (Monday, March 13, 2000)]
[Pages 463-464]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

March 4, 2000

    Good morning. Today I want to speak with you about the senseless and 
heartbreaking gun violence that has shaken our Nation once again.
    Yesterday, the community of Mount Morris Township, Michigan, held 
memorial services for a beautiful little girl who was shot to death in 
her first-grade classroom on Tuesday. Kayla Rolland was only 6 years 
old. When she walked to school with her older brother and sister, her 
backpack looked almost as big as she was, but she loved to carry books 
and read. In the words of her grandmother, she was a bright light who 
lit up everything wherever she went.
    The community of Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, was also devastated this 
week. On Wednesday, a gunman unloaded his fury and a .22 caliber 
revolver in a busy commercial center. Five men were killed or grievously 
wounded, including a young college student and a man who served his 
community as a priest for 23 years. These tragedies were not isolated 
events. From Littleton to Fort Worth, Paducah to Pearl, gun violence has 
stolen the lives of young and old alike. It has desecrated churches and 
classrooms and day-care centers. It's kept parents up at night and made 
schoolchildren afraid to get on the bus in the morning.
    Every day, gunfire takes the lives of a dozen children in America. 
One University of New Hampshire survey showed that 60 percent of 15-
year-olds said they could get hold of an unlocked gun. If you look just 
at the accidental gun deaths among children under 15, the rate in the 
United States is 9 times higher than in the other 25 industrial 
countries combined. This is intolerable, and we must act, because we can 
do something about it.
    Last year, with a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Gore, the 
Senate passed a juvenile crime bill that would go a long way toward 
strengthening our gun laws, requiring child safety locks, banning large 
ammunition clips, and closing the gun show background check loophole.
    The House passed a much weaker bill. And for the past 8 months, the 
leaders in Congress have simply failed to get together to complete a 
final bill for me to sign. I've called on congressional leaders to join 
me at the White House on Tuesday to break that logjam. In that meeting 
I'll insist that they get the job done. I want Congress to send me a 
final bill that closes the loophole that allows criminals to buy 
firearms at gun shows, bans the importation of high capacity ammunition 
clips, holds adults accountable when they allow young people to get 
their hands on deadly guns, and requires child safety locks for all new 
handguns, the kind of locks that would have prevented a first grader 
from taking Kayla Rolland's life.
    I'll also ask for support on three other vital measures: to develop 
smart guns that can only be fired by the adults who own them; to require 
that new handgun buyers first get a photo license showing they passed 
the Brady background check and a gun safety course; and to hire 1,000 
new gun prosecutors. Gun crime prosecutions already are up 16 percent 
since I took office, but we should do more.
    In a country of 270 million people, no law can stop every act of gun 
violence. But we can't just throw up our hands as if gun safety laws 
don't make a difference. We all have a responsibility to do our part, 
parents, community leaders, members of the gun industry, and yes, 
Members of Congress, too.
    When we passed the Brady bill, people argued it wouldn't make any 
difference because criminals don't buy guns at gun stores, they said. 
But it turned out a lot of them did. Brady background checks have now 
blocked gun purchases by 500,000 felons, fugitives, and stalkers. And 
gun crime is down by more than 35 percent since 1993.
    The only reason Congress hasn't already sent me a bill with 
comprehensive gun safety provisions is because of the pressure tactics 
and the threats of the NRA. In fact, the NRA now is launching a $20 
million campaign to target and to defeat Members of Congress who support 
responsible gun safety laws. But

[[Page 464]]

when first graders shoot first graders, it's time for Congress to be 
guided by their hearts and their heads, not by a fear or the pressure 
tactics of the NRA.
    It's time for all of us to make our voices heard in the Halls of 
Congress. The very least we can do to honor the memory of little Kayla 
Rolland and all the other tragic victims of gun violence is to pass 
sensible gun safety legislation right now.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 1:05 p.m. on March 3 in the Los Gatos 
Room at the Silicon Valley Conference Center at Novell Headquarters, San 
Jose, CA, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on March 4. The transcript was 
made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on March 3 but was 
embargoed for release until the broadcast.