This past Sunday, America's sons and daughters celebrated one of the most important people in their lives: their mothers. She is the person who cared for them when they were sick, helped them with their homework when they struggled and tried to keep them safe and on the straight and narrow path. On Mother's Day, these nurturers were honored with flowers, gifts and sweets, small tokens of appreciation for their immeasurable value to the children they raised and to our society as a whole.
Sadly, however, some of these mothers have been deprived of their offspring's adoration because of the over-abundance of guns in our country. Every day, around 8 children under the age of 19 are killed in gun related homicides, suicides and unintentional shootings. The approximately 192 million guns in the U.S. represent the second leading cause of death for our young people.
Ten years ago, President Clinton successfully persuaded Congress to ban AK-47's, Tec-9's and other deadly assault weapons. Unfortunately, in order to pass such a controversial measure, the bill included a sunset provision that made the law expire ten years after its enactment. In the time since the Assault Weapon Ban's enactment, violent crime has decreased, the use of assault weapons in crimes has dropped significantly and people are safer because this law has been in effect.
Despite these positive effects (polls show over 70% of the American public is supportive of the ban), President Bush and the Republican controlled Congress have not moved an inch towards reauthorization of the ban. During the 2000 campaign, President Bush made no bones about his full support to keep the Assault Weapons Ban intact. His failure to keep his word, takes us to this past Sunday.
Under the sweltering heat near the West Front of the Capitol, thousands of supporters for common-sense gun control measures spent their Mother's Day 2004, making their voices heard, calling on President Bush to keep his promise and renew the Assault Weapons Ban.
A combined effort between the Million Mom March and Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the event kicked off a nationwide "Halt the Assault" tour, which will carry the message of the dire need to save the Assault Weapons Ban before it expires on September 13, 2004.
I was honored to be asked to address the passionate crowd of nearly 5,000 which included prominent speakers Bianca Jagger, the Reverend Jesse Jackson and author Richard North Patterson. In my remarks, I offered my deep concern over the lack of action coming from the White House and my strong support for saving the Assault Weapons Ban. I also sought to bring attention to another piece of common sense gun legislation, which I introduced last week, to ban the 50 caliber sniper rifle.
The most powerful rifle on the commercial market, accurate up to 2,000 yards and containing the power to bring down airliners and puncture rail cars carrying hazardous materials, this is a weapon of potential mass destruction. The 50 caliber is simply too destructive to continue to be as easily available as the common shotgun. Reports have also stated that around 25 of these weapons have been purchased by al Qaeda in recent years. We need to keep these weapons out of the hands of criminals and keep their use only by trained law enforcement and military personnel and that is what my bill seeks to do.
I hope this Mother's Day saw many expressions of love and gratitude for our moms. My heart goes out to those who were not able to receive these gifts of affection because of the deadly effect firearms have wrung on our society. The time has come for President Bush to honor his promise, and the wishes of millions of moms across the country, to renew the Assault Weapons Ban and retain a proven tool that reduces gun violence.