Political Quotes

“I rise to announce to the Senate that during the past week, 14 people were killed with firearms in New York City, bringing this year's total to 58. A recent national study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated that homicide is the second leading cause of death among teenagers aged 15 to 19. If current nationwide trends continue, it is estimated that annual deaths from gunshot wounds will surpass annual deaths from automobile accidents by 2003. In New York State, as in the District of Columbia and five other States, this has already occurred. In 1992, there were 2,345 gunshot-related deaths in New York State, compared with 1,959 motor vehicle-related deaths. By the middle of the century, we recognized that traffic accidents constituted perhaps the greatest of the Nation's public health problems. So we did something about it. We passed the Motor Vehicle Safety Act in 1966 and increased the use of seatbelts, padded dashboards, and, more recently, air-bags. As a result, traffic death and injury was reduced by 30 percent, even as the number of miles driven by Americans increased dramatically. Estimates suggest that we prevented as many as 250,000 deaths. We should apply our experience in reducing traffic fatalities to reducing the death rate by gunshot.”